Bay CrossingsNews

Labor, Ferries, San Francisco Bay and the Future

Ten international Unions say they are on board and ready to go with the skilled crafts people ready to build and maintain the ferries for San Francisco Bay area’s newly proposed system. These ten unions are members of the Pacific Coast Metal Trades District Council {"Council"} that was formed in 1908. Their main purpose is to coordinate, stabilize and improve labor relations and working conditions for Metal Trades workers on the Pacific Coast. The Council’s primary focus over the years has been in shipbuilding, repair and maintenance.

The Bay Area’s affiliate is the Bay Cities Metal Trades Council who represents the crafts people in the Bay area. The Council is composed of Pipe Fitters {UA}, Electricians {IBEW}, Operating Engineers, Laborers, Sheetmetal Workers, Boilermakers, Carpenters, Machinists, Teamsters and Painters. The Council works together under one contract with an employer and enables shipyards to draw highly skilled crafts people for whatever the particular job.

Training members and new apprentices in the maritime industry has always been a top priority for all of the Council’s unions. There have always been a lot of ups and downs in this industry and these ferry projects and their maintenance will be a welcome resurgence. The Bay Cities Metal Trades was involved in training tens of thousands of shipyard workers during W.W.II. While this will be small in comparison, new training programs are already being put into action as we are seeing growth on the West Coast in this industry.

On December 9, 1999, California Gov. Gray Davis, joined San Francisco Mayor,

Willie Brown JR., in announcing the awarding of $1.1 million to City College of San Francisco, by the City and County of San Francisco Department of Human Services and the Mayor’s Office of Community Development. The funds will be used for the establishment of a Construction and Maritime Training Center located at the College’s Evans Campus.

"Job training is an essential part of our efforts to move Californians from welfare to work," said Governor Gray Davis. "This new center will provide hundreds of San Franciscans with the twenty-first century skills they need to take responsibility for their families and their future."

"This project represents a two-and one-half-year effort by the City to work with low-income communities, trade unions, community-based employment and training organizations, and neighborhood economic development organizations to fulfill my Administration’s commitment to provide increased economic opportunities for low-income residents in local industries," stated Mayor brown. "It also provides a new link between City College and the Maritime industry.

The President and Organizer for the Pacific Coast Metal Trades District Council, Tom Kendall has been working closely with Backers of the Regional Ferry System. The reasons are obvious Kendall said recently, "It creates family wage jobs, it makes sense environmentally, it adds even more charm and character to one of the greatest regions of the world and is economically sound"