Council President Gómez and Members of the City Council
City of San Diego
202 C Street, 10th Floor
San Diego, California 92101
RE: Item 202 — Community Choice Aggregation Program (CCA)
The Sierra Club, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 569, and San Diego Community Choice Alliance write to express concern regarding the item above. We urge the City Council to include stronger labor provisions to ensure any CCA in San Diego delivers on creating and protecting good, middle-class careers for working families as it prioritizes the development of local clean energy resources.
Specifically, we request that the resolution under consideration include language that encourages paying construction workers prevailing wages, ensures neutrality in the event workers wish to unionize, and promotes the use of project labor agreements (PLA) and community benefits agreements that bring needed investment in our local economy and local hire that prioritizes communities of concern. As the City Attorney’s office noted in their February 21, 2019 memo regarding labor language: “nothing prevents the Council from including language in the resolution that encourages or promotes the use of PLAs and prevailing wages on CCA-related projects.”
With 19 CCAs currently spread throughout California, San Diego has the benefit of learning from previous experiences; many CCAs, such as Clean Power Alliance and East Bay Community Energy, have strong standards in their Joint Powers Agreement that detail their commitment to their community’s environmental and labor values. San Diego is poised to become one of the largest in the state, so it is critical that the City moves forward with an equitable and sustainable CCA that speaks to the community’s progressive values.
We appreciate the opportunity to comment on this important issue. We look forward to working with you in ensuring that any CCA providing power to the residents and businesses of San Diego are served by a program that reflects their priorities.
Sincerely,
Luis Amezcua, Sierra Club
Nicholas J. Segura, Jr. , IBEW Local 569
Matthew Vasilakis, San Diego Community Choice Alliance
