Bay CrossingsNews
Labor, Ferries, San Francisco Bay and the
Future
![](Labor_Grip_and_Grin_for_web.jpg) |
Mike
Grabowski, Business Agent for the Boilermakers (left), Mayor Willie
Brown (center) and Governor Gray Davis (right) celebrate the new
maritime training program at San Francisco’s City College |
Labor has a glories past in the
history of San Francisco Bay but what future role will it play? Bay Crossings
asked Tom Kendall, President of the Pacific Coast Metal Trades, to comment.
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"