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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04211987 - IO.3 THE BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Adopted this Order on April 21, 1987 , by the following vote: AYES; Supervisors Powers, Fanden, Schroder, Torlakson, McPeak NOES; None ABSENT; None ABSTAIN; None ------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------------------------------------------------------ SUBJECT; Employment Practices of USS-POSCO and its General Contractor Responding to the Board' s request of March 3 , 1987, the Internal Operations Committee submitted its report on employment practices of USS-POSCO and its general contractor for the modernization project, B. E. & K. A copy of the report is attached and included as a part of this order. . Supervisor Fanden, noted that she had not participated on other issues related to the USS-POSCO modernization project. She stated that on the advice of County Counsel she can participate in studying this issue since the purpose of the Committee is to collect data or information on the hiring practices of USS-POSCO. Included in the Internal Operations Committee report were three recommendations. Board members discussed the recommendations as presented by the Internal Operations Committee. Supervisor McPeak advised that she would support the recommendations if they were modified to include direction to the County Administrator to request Congressman George Miller, Senators Alan Cranston and Pete Wilson, and the California Economic Development Commission to hold hearings in this County to investigate the allegations of subsidies from foreign governments, and particularly the relationship of Korean Government subsidies to the USS-POSCO operation, and the impact on local jobs. Board members being in agreement, IT IS ORDERED that the recommendations as set forth in the Internal Operations Report are APPROVED. IT IS FURTHER ORDERED that the recommendation of Suprvisor McPeak is APPROVED. cc: Internal Operations Committee County Administrator Community Development Director Personnel Director County Counsel USS-POSCO (via CAO) B. E. & K. (via CAO) Central Labor Council (via CAO) I hereby certify that this Is a true and correct copy of an action taken and entered on the minutes of the Board of Supervisors on the date shown. ATTESTED: -9/, 87 PHIL BA7 HELOR,Clerk of the Board of Supervisors and County Administrator By , Deputy To BOARD OF SUPERVISORS FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE Contra April 13, 1987 Costa DATE: County Employment Practices of USS-POSCO and SUBJECT: Its General Contractor SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECOMMENDATION(_S) & BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1 . Authorize the Internal Operations Committee to continue to gather data on the employment practices of USS-POSCO and its General Contractor, B. E. & K. , in order to determine the extent to which jobs are being offered to local residents, the extent to which competitive wages are being offered, and the extent to which a reasonable benefit package is offered to employees. 2 . Authorize the Internal Operations Committee to convene a meeting with USS-POSCO and B. E. & K. to which all members of the Board would be invited, along with this County' s state and federal legislative representatives to address specific employment-related issues which arise from the data being gathered by our Committee. 3 . Agree that the Internal Operations Committee meeting noted in recommendation #2 above is intended to replace the Board hearing on these issues which was ordered at the conclusion of the Board' s hearing April 7 . BACKGROUND: On March 3, 1987, the Board of Supervisors referred to our Committee the issue of allegations of subsidies from foreign governments and joint ventures which result in a loss of local and state jobs. On April 13, 1987, our Committee met with Steve Roberti, representing the Central Labor Council; Keith Samson, John Benda and Sang Whan Yoh of USS-POSCO, County Counsel, and staff from the Community Development Department, to discuss this and related issues. We also discussed some of the issues which arose at the Board' s April 7 hearing on the issue of USS-POSCO' s building permits and the applicability of land use permit requirements to USS-POSCO' s current reconstruction plans. We particularly focused on the extent to which the employment practices of USS-POSCO and its General Contractor, B. E. & K. , have resulted in a loss of jobs for local union workers. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: _ YES SIGNATURE: _ RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR X RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE X APPROVE OTHER D - C SIGNATURE(S): Nancy C. Fanden Tom Torlakson AC ON OF BOARD ON April 21 , 1987 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED OTHER _ VOTE OF SUPERVISORS 1 HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE _ UNANIMOUS (ABSENT AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES. ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF RVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. County Administrator cc: Community Development Director ATTESTED _ HE CLERK OF THE BOARD OF Health Services Director PHIL BATC Personnel Director SUPERVISORS AND LU ADMINISTRATOR County Counsel USS-POSCO (via CAO) D nr M382/7-83 B.E.&K. (via CAO) , Central Labor CouncilBY Page 2 Mr. Roberti expressed his concern that B. E. & K. are hiring out-of-state employees to perform the construction work at USS-POSCO and are not providing them with health insurance, thus running the risk that the County may be called upon to finance health care for some of these workers. Mr. Benda, on behalf of USS-POSCO, noted that they had hired a general contractor, B. E. & K. , and that B. E. & K. intends to hire non-supervisory employees locally to the maximum extent possible. Supervisor Torlakson noted that the Health Services Department has received a copy of B. E. & K. ' s benefit package for analysis. Questions were raised regarding the wage scale being paid by B. E. & K. and whether they are maintaining their target of hiring 850 of their workers locally for the USS-POSCO contract. Mr. Benda noted that USS-POSCO has been very responsible in taking care of its own employees through their benefit package. He also briefly described the pension and benefit package which USS-POSCO employees have available to them as a part of the new joint-venture company. Mr. Yoh described the motivation of the Korean Government and Korean companies in wanting to invest in and cooperate with American companies. Mr. Yoh denied that there was any direct subsidy from the Korean Government to USS-POSCO other than the Korean Government' s 300 ownership of the Korean Company, which is the parent of the Korean part of the USS-POSCO joint venture. Mr. Yoh went on to clarify that there are no Korean nationals involved in the construction work at USS-POSCO. There are nine Korean nationals in management positions at USS-POSCO. Mr. Benda noted that the USS-POSCO plant is operated by U. S. Steel. The Koreans do not interfere in the operations of the plant. He also noted that it would be helpful to have representatives from B. E. & K. meet with our Committee since USS-POSCO does not feel it is in a position to respond to many of the detailed questions about B. E. & K. ' s hiring practices. Our Committee feels that we had a very worthwhile meeting with the USS-POSCO and Central Labor Council representatives. We want to make it clear that we are in no way opposed to the USS-POSCO joint venture nor to the presence of Korean managers at the plant. We are concerned to know in more detail who B. E. & K. is hiring; how many of the workers are local; what kind of benefits these workers have, and what type of wage scale they are paid in relation to local union wage scales. We are, therefore, suggesting that our Committee be authorized to meet with representatives of USS-POSCO and B. E. & K. to obtain more specific data about B. E. & K. ' s employment practices. We want to invite the other Board members and our state and federal legislators, or their representatives, to join us. This meeting should be seen as a fact-gathering effort to determine what B. E. & K. ' s employment practices are. We would like to serve as a forum for the sharing of this information with the Central Labor Council and the public. We do not intend to ,tell B. E. & K. how they, or USS-POSCO, should run their businesses. We are only concerned with obtaining and evaluating facts. We are concerned about the impact B. E. & K. ' s employment practices may be having on the economy of Contra Costa County. We need more factual information before we can draw any conclusions in this regard. As a result, we are making the above recommendations.