Cincinnati School Construction CBA

Perhaps taking a cue from the Syracuse Schools Reconstruction Project CBA, the Cincinnati School Board earlier this week approved a set of community benefits goals to be met on school construction projects, including:

• 40% of workers at a given school site should be residents of the school district;
• 40% should be residents of the Cincinnati metropolitan area outside the school district;;
• 20% of labor and trade personnel should be minorities and women; and
• provisions to encourage more apprenticeships for local workers.

Somewhat akin to an RFP, the "CBA" is expected to be signed by the Greater Cincinnati Building Trades Council and other nonunion employers that might work on school construction jobs. Community groups will also be invited to sign on.

The CBA follows revelations earlier this year that the Cincinnati Public Schools had awarded $12 million in contracts to white-owned firms improperly classified as minority contractors.

Community seeks a CBA to cover Cincinnati's school construction project

In Cincinnati, local groups (including unions and the Baptist Ministers' Conference) are pushing for a living wage requirement, higher minority hiring goals, and local hiring requirements for the city's $1 billion school district wide construction project. See here. Although about half of the construction has been finished, community members would still like to see these issues addressed in future procurements, possibly in the form of a CBA.

Supporters of the restrictions claim that it will result in higher quality construction and benefits to the local community, but critics claim that it will cost an extra $15 to $20 million--enough by itself to build a new school. The school board will vote on the issue in August.