By LARA KORTE, JEREMY B. WHITE, MATTHEW BROWN and RAMON CASTANOS
03/22/2023 09:14 AM EDT
Presented by Elected Officials to Protect America - Code Blue
THE BUZZ: Last year’s labor fights are bubbling back up again in Sacramento.
Two hotly contested housing bills by Sen. Scott Wiener got their first hearings Tuesday, opening up familiar arguments about labor protections and the urgent need to construct affordable housing in California.
At issue are worker protections that groups like the formidable State Building and Construction Trades Council insist upon, particularly, the requirement that certain new housing projects be built by trained and skilled workers. The group has been known to torpedo housing legislation in the past over inadequate protections, but last year lawmakers reached a rare deal involving a dual-bill solution.
Senate Bill 423 by Wiener would make permanent a 2017 law meant to cut through red tape around construction projects in cities and counties that aren’t meeting state housing plan requirements. But it would do so without the “trained and skilled” requirement for workers. Instead, it would require employees to be paid a prevailing wage based on their field and location, in addition to requiring health care on larger projects.
That has the resounding support of those like the carpenters’ unions and various YIMBY groups, who say the prevailing wage and health care requirements are preferable to strict labor rules that...
The Dangote Group has dismissed as false and malicious claims of a rift between its President, Aliko Dangote, and the Chairman of Heirs Holdings, Tony Elumelu, and also rejected allegations that h...