A community workforce agreement between Tahoma School District and a nonprofit organization has created tension, which has gone public.
Over the last 15 months, Skanska, the contractor working on the new high school project for the district, and Sound Alliance have been in private negotiations over a community workforce agreement. The issue is pre-hire agreements setting terms and conditions of employment for the construction of the new high school project.
Sound Alliance is a nonprofit organization that represents religious and educational institutions as well as labor unions. The organization helped the Voice of Tahoma Education (VOTE) committee run the campaign for the voter-approved school bond in 2013.
The community workforce agreement between the district and Sound Alliance has been in the works since before the bond was passed by voters.
According to an email forwarded to The Reporter by Sound Alliance, the agreement draft was sent to the district on Oct. 23, 2013. In February 2014, Sound Alliance brought an updated agreement to the district and the contractor, Skanska, for approval. This time the agreement was labeled as a project labor agreement or PLA.
Joe Chrastil, lead organizer for Sound Alliance, said the two terms (community workforce agreement and PLA) are interchangeable.
Regardless of title, the agreement wasn’t what the two parties had agreed upon, according to Kevin Patterson, spokesperson for the district.
The agreement the district made with Sound Alliance in 2013 was informal, Patterson said. But, he said, it fit with the district’s Future Ready initiative because it not only allowed local workers to contribute to the high school project, it also was going to create an apprenticeship program for students who aren’t college-bound.
At the April 14 school board meeting, Sound Alliance made a presentation expressing its frustration that the PLA has not been signed by the district and Skanska.
The PLA outlines how much work will be done by union and non-union labor, as well as incorporating apprenticeship programs and hiring veterans and local businesses to do work on the new high school project.
According to Chrastil, the district has not upheld all of its promises made before the bond measure was passed. The district disputes Chrastil’s claim. Chrastil said Sound Alliance’s presentation was made during public comment after attempts to meet with members of the board were denied.
Patterson said the reason why the board or district administrators haven’t met with Sound Alliance exclusively is because the contractor is negotiating on their behalf.
The Reporter will continue to follow the issues in this story.
