Protest at City College Raises Concerns over Local Hiring Practices
By Tabari Morris
Protesters gathered at City College on Jan. 9 during the early morning hours to call attention to the local hiring practices on the college’s new building developments. The protest, organized by the African American Construction Collective, focused on raising concerns over the poor inclusion of locals and minorities in the construction work at City College.
Activity increased throughout the morning hours, with more vehicles arriving and the assembly of protestors. An employee of XL Construction began to photograph the license plates of AACC members as tensions mounted.
An AACC member relayed a text message shared by a truck driver on the job site: “This message is not in line with San Francisco values. We in San Francisco defend our small businesses. We defend, we are welcoming to diversity and we simply believe that they shouldn’t be working on this job site at all. And we believe that City College can do a little bit better about including San Francisco contractors.”
“The minimum requirement, I believe they have to make a best efforts kind of a move to hire locally, right? They’re required to use local residents,” explained a member of the AACC.
Awareness was taken to the City College Trustees Swearing-in Ceremony with Supervisor Myrna Melgar. AACC’s presence was in an effort to make new trustees aware of the hiring issue and make a change. “We simply desire to bring awareness to even these guys. The name is City College, Correct? Why not have city workers working on your project?”
A peaceful demonstration was seen as AACC took care not to block the path into campus. “Yesterday, we did it. Made it in. It was tremendous. Everyone understood. They simply requested for us to do it in a peaceful manner and not hold anybody hostage. Let guys in and out, which I assured I would do. I don’t ever desire to blur those lines because that’s not my purpose,” mentioned Mike Gregory, president of the AACC.
This protest at City College reflects a deeper issue with diversity and local hiring in public works. City College and similar entities must see it as an opportunity to act in concert with San Francisco’s values and make sure that diverse and locally based companies have a chance to be considered and become a part of the city’s economy.