Burbank Unified Embraces Organized Labor
By Robert Fulton
Outside of maybe the entertainment unions, Burbank isn’t exactly known as a pro-union city.
That may be slowly changing as the city, known for a great airport and giant Ikea, starts to wrap its arm around Labor.
The Burbank Unified School District recently approved a Community Workforce Agreement (CWA), sometimes known as a Project Labor Agreement, with the Building Trades that will guarantee jobs for Local 11 for years to come across multiple projects.
The vote was unanimous.
Last November, Burbank residents approved Measure ABC, which allows for nearly $460 million in bonds for school improvements.
“That money, of course, turns into jobs for our members,” said District 4 Business Agent Brett Moss. “They’ve got a tremendous amount of work. They want the work to be done by organized labor.”
Moss has held the role of District 4 Business Agent and has been covering Burbank and the greater District 4 area for the past year. He credits communication as the key to getting a unanimous vote for the CWA from the school district.
Moss said that union members shared their stories and why the CWA is important, and they also listened to questions and concerns from the school board so that they could “get their arms around what exactly the CWA was going to mean,”
Moss said.
For District 4 organizer Ruben Mendoza, establishing more work in Burbank is more personal. He’s lived in the city for nearly 30 years, and not once has he worked here. Having that opportunity to work closer to home is a big plus for him and other members living in the San Fernando Valley.
Terry Norton, a 50-year retired member of Local 11 and a Burbank resident, spoke during the School Board Meeting.
“The CWA will benefit the citizens and businesses of Burbank first and foremost,” Norton said. “A Community Workforce Agreement for Burbank schools just makes good sense.”
Tim McCardle, another Local 11 member who spoke before the school board, echoed similar sentiments.
“If we have more people working here and people living in the neighborhood working in the neighborhood, there’s a lot of pride that goes into that.”
Mendoza is also happy to see Burbank begin to shift to a more union-friendly town.
“Burbank has always been a little bit more shy with the unions,” Mendoza said. “They’ve never been in a big union town.”
Moss shared that the school board lamented some earlier work done non-union that didn’t live up to expectations. Something that the skilled and trained workforce of Local 11 won’t tolerate.
“It ended up costing them, whether it was time because of delays, or more money to correct what should have been done the first time,” Moss said. “So again, skilled and trained, that’s what they’re after. That’s what every customer wants. They want it to be done right. They want it to be done the first time. They want to get their students into the best, safest schools that they can.”
