EVERETT — Mayor Cassie Franklin vetoed a council-approved ordinance Wednesday night that would have required collective bargaining agreements with contractors and workers on Everett’s public works projects starting next year.
After weeks of discussion and a late parallel bill to challenge the project labor agreement ordinance presented by Everett City Council member Liz Vogeli, the council approved Vogeli’s bill in a 4-3 vote at its meeting Dec. 7.
The council would need five votes to override the veto, Franklin’s first since she took office in 2018.
Franklin said she issued the veto over the unknown implications of the ordinance.
“It’s in my judgment that there’s too much that we don’t know about how this ordinance will affect our city, including its impact on our budget, our staffing needs and our ability to consider the community’s best interest,” Franklin said.
The ordinance required the city to negotiate with workers and the companies contracted for public works construction projects over $5 million. In one of the key features of the bill, it barred the covered laborers from strikes and lockouts to help ensure work was done on schedule.
Project labor agreements bind pay to prevailing wage, build in apprenticeship opportunities and establish work conditions, according to the union group AFL-CIO. Such deals are used by King County, Seattle and the Port of Seattle.
“It’s about the worker,” Vogeli said. “Something overlooked in this process is the importance of workers rights.”
The ordinance would have replaced a resolution passed in 2019 with a similar threshold, though the predecessor required seven factors to be considered before implementing a project labor agreement.
Council members Brenda Stonecipher, Judy Tuohy and Ben Zarlingo voted against Vogeli’s ordinance. They each said they did not oppose unions and came from union families, but said they were concerned about the lack of protections over cost, the potential expense borne by city utility ratepayers and losing negotiating power.
“We all support labor standards, the rights of workers to be treated fairly,” Stonecipher said.
Building trade union members and representatives flooded public comment in support of Vogeli’s bill during three meetings in November and December. They touted the economic and workplace benefits to workers who live in the city and county.
“We’re building the next generation of workers that are going to take Everett into the next century,” said Bill Albin with International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302.
People from construction companies and those representing builders and general contractors opposed project labor agreements in general. They said more costs and time needed for administration of the deal make it difficult for smaller contractors.
“We would no longer be interested in building these jobs,” IMCO Construction operations manager CJ Handforth, told the council Nov. 16. IMCO has worked for the city past public works projects.
But Lorraine Cook, owner of Skyline Tile and Marble in Woodinville, said project labor agreements have been useful for her business.
Craig Skotdal, who helms Everett-based development company Skotdal Real Estate and served on the city’s advisory committee that reviewed the structural budget deficit, said project labor agreements could increase costs amid limited revenue growth.
“At its core, it limits competition,” he said.
Ryan Sass, Everett’s public works director, shared similar concerns over the financial hit its capital program could take from project labor agreements. The “no strike” provision also hasn’t worked every time, as evidenced by the concrete driver strike this year that delayed work on major projects, such as the Lynnwood light rail extensions, he said.
Everett’s project labor agreement template could take months to write, city attorney David Hall said. The council made exemptions for four planned public works projects to keep them on schedule.
But it’s all moot unless the council overrides the veto. If Franklin’s decision stands, she said a task force made up of city staff, council members and at least one union representative would work on a new ordinance in the coming year.
In the interim, the existing project labor ordinance stands. It has a $5 million threshold and requires city staff to review projects for potential use such an agreement. To date, the city has not used a project labor ordinance under the resolution.
Ben Watanabe: 425-339-3037; bwatanabe@heraldnet.com; Twitter: @benwatanabe.
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