SDUT:
“Tuesday’s Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District board meeting offered a graphic example of why politicians have among the worst reputations of any occupational category in the world.”
Also:
“The Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District governing board went back on a promise it made three years ago and voted 3-0 Tuesday night to negotiate a project labor agreement with the San Diego Building and Construction Trades Council for work funded by the 2012 Proposition V bond measure. Trustees Bill Garrett and Edwin Hiel abstained.”
Read it all at the San Diego Union-Tribune.
State Assembly candidate Mike Harrison writes about the issue here at SD Rostra…
Public trust means keeping your word
See some of Rostra’s previous coverage of Grossmont-Cuyamaca and its project labor agreement.
Comments 2
I read and respect Michael Harrison’s commentary. I normally do not comment on Rostra but am compelled to do so. I will be more direct. The GCCCD governing board abrogated their responsibilities to the public and the voters. I would never have voted yes on bond measures several years ago knowing a PLA agreement was to be in force. PLA agreements do in fact increase costs on major projects and descriminates against a major portion of the local workforce. I advocate impeachment of the trustees, or a recall. I am similarly disappointed with people who abstain on important matters. What a travesty. Then again, it reflects on how many of our elected officials treat our trust. They tell us one thing and do something else. I hope the San Diego County Taxpayers Association publicizes this action as widely as possible in the East County. More than angry.
Roger Roberts, Commander, US Navy, Retired
We can thank the members of the Grossmont Cuyamaca Community College Board of Trustees for clarifying some things to workers in the union construction trades:
Even in a prevailing wage environment you have little or no faith union workers can stand tall without a sloped playing field and demonstrate superior, or even equal, training, production, safety, and results.
Even in a prevailing wage environment our you have little or no faith that contractors using union labor can win a majority, or even reasonable share, of work without special nanny state help.
Even in a prevailing wage environment you have little or no faith organized labor can argue effectively in pre-vote open public debate that union trades do provide greater value to the taxpayers and the public.
Even in a prevailing wage environment you believe it is better to engage in stealth campaigns for public office saying anything at all to get elected, to wait for a critical number of “plants” to be elected, and then engage in crony capitalism.
You and your collection legal mouthpieces spew Pharisaical sophistry to justify a repugnant bait and switch gambit with the voters and thereby trash time tested values of integrity and honor.
You are upping the stakes of “gaming” public office and the public treasury to benefit a narrow constituency or a private affiliation.
You have done more damage in the public eye to the reputations of the vast majority of union working members who try, every day, on the job to represent the values of hard work, an “honest days’ work for an honest days’ pay” and “Done Right the First Time!”
Scott H. Kidwell
Union Electrician