A PLA or Project Labor Agreement is an agreement between the City of San Diego, the San Diego County Building and Construction Trades Council (AFL-CIO), and the signatory Craft Unions, to establish terms and conditions of employment for particular City-procured Capital Improvement Program (CIP) projects.

Yes! The City encourages all qualified bidders. Please refer to the Forms, Trainings, Templates section of this page for what information will need to be provided to the City. Please direct any additional questions to CityofSDPLA@sandiego.gov or 619-236-5973.

Solicitations for PLA Covered Work will clearly indicate this on the cover page and include PLA language in the advertisement on PlanetBids. If you have any questions about a solicitation and the applicability to the PLA, please contact PWD-PWC-Contracts@SanDiego.gov or 619-533-3450 for assistance.

Contractors who are signatories to one or more Craft Unions are able to use their own workforce; contractors who are non-signatories are allowed three core employees per craft, on a rotational basis. Some exceptions may apply for non-signatory contractors who are a Disadvantaged Business (DBE) as defined in the PLA, please contact the Project Labor Coordinator at CityofSDPLA@sandiego.gov for more information.

Forms and instructions will be provided to all contractors after a contract is awarded and they attend a PLA Orientation. These forms can also be found under the Forms, Trainings, Templates section of this webpage. The City will hold monthly PLA Orientation meetings and recommends all contractors attend to become familiar with PLA processes and expectations. Any questions not answered in the instructions or PLA Orientation can be directed to the Project Labor Coordinator at CityofSDPLA@sandiego.gov.

A pre-job conference can be scheduled by clicking the link on the right-hand side of this page. Please contact the Project Labor Coordinator if you have questions or run into any scheduling difficulties.

One of the benefits of the PLA to the San Diego Region is employment of Local Workers (a Local Worker is defined as any person living within San Diego County or a Veteran residing anywhere). Generally, the PLA asks that contractors and Unions work together to achieve the goal of hiring Local Workers to perform at least 30% of the total construction craft hours worked on each Covered Project.

A Targeted Worker is someone who fits into one or more socioeconomic categories listed in the PLA that include, but are not limited to, the following: someone with no high school diploma or general education diploma; someone who is homeless or has been homeless within the past year; a single, custodial parent; a person who has a documented income at or below 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level; and/or an individual who has spent time in jail, a youth correctional facility, or a prison. The PLA asks that contractors and Unions work together to encourage the hiring of Targeted Workers on Covered Projects.

The City’s CIP PLA does not include Pure Water projects and is separate from the Pure Water Project Labor Agreement.