Defenders of California High-Speed Rail often respond to critics by touting how the project provides high-paying jobs in the construction industry for disadvantaged residents of the San Joaquin Valley. It’s one thing to proclaim intentions, but another to achieve them.
California High-Speed Rail Authority CEO Jeff Morales spoke about high-speed rail training and employment for San Joaquin Valley workers at a December 2014 conference in Los Angeles:
The economic benefits of high-speed rail are a huge component of what we’re doing. Particularly in the Central Valley, it’s sorely needed. The Central Valley is the fastest growing part of the state but has suffered from chronic high unemployment, roughly twice the state average. Unemployment in the construction industry in the Valley is 25-35 percent. Our program is going to be a game changer for that region, investing billions of dollars into that economy. It is going to create unprecedented opportunities for people, not just to work on our program, but to be trained to work and have a career in other programs. Working with our partners, three pre-apprenticeship programs are already training people to work in the industry. We’re at the very front end of the major construction, but we’re already seeing people get jobs.
But these programs and jobs have restrictions. The California High-Speed Rail Authority and other regional and local governments have policies (such as a Project Labor Agreement, aka “Community Benefits Agreement”) to ensure construction unions get a monopoly on recruitment, training, and dispatch of workers to high-speed rail jobs. Allegedly this would provide job opportunities for disadvantaged residents who would otherwise remain in poverty.
View Article