114th Year OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL OF SAN FRANCISCO Volume 114, No. 1 January 2014 www.SFBuildingTradesCouncil.org Chinese Hospital Rises in Heart of Chinatown ♦ All-Union Project Starts Steel Work By Paul Burton is expected to be completed by Image courtesy of Chinese Hospital Contributing Writer the Chinese New Year of 2015. The new facility will be new hospital adjacent to the hospital’s build- in the heart of ing that opened in 1979, which Chinatown is is becoming overcrowded. being built with The construction project itself an all-union faces the challenge of being in Acrew. General contractor DPR a crowded commercial neigh- Construction completed a borhood, with heavy vehicle major concrete pour at the end and pedestrian traffic and little of December, and Herrick Steel room for heavy equipment is set to begin erecting steel this and trucks. The San Francisco month for the Chinese Hospi- Business Times noted that, tal. Demolition of the original “The neighborhood that sur- hospital building at 835 Jack- rounds the project site is always son Street built in 1924 began bustling with activity… Fish in late 2012. and produce markets, with deliveries thrice daily, populate Oldest Independent the area. And the still-active Hospital other half of Chinese Hospital, Chinese Hospital is San (continued on page 21) The new $169 million Chinese Hospital replacement project will be adjacent to the hospital’s building that Francisco’s oldest independent opened in 1979 and is expected to be completed by the Chinese New Year of 2015. community hospital and is a unique healthcare provider with a long and rich history Demo Begins on Old Bay Bridge of providing access to health care services for the Chinese ♦ Historic Photos and Computer Imaging Will be Used to Overcome Safety Challenges community. The community- emolition of the The demolition will be done Touchdown. The demolition the lower deck from the cantile- owned, non-profit hospital old Bay Bridge be- roughly in the reverse order is scheduled to be completed vered sections of the bridge. offers a wide range of medical, gan in November, of the construction of the by the end of 2016, at a cost Crews will remove 2,125 surgical and specialty pro- with crews begin- bridge. Silverado and CEC of $281 million. tons of concrete, 374 tons of grams. The replacement project ningD the process of chipping will handle demolition of the rebar and 1,300 tons of steel will nearly double the current away concrete and cutting cantilever section just east Upper Deck First deck supports, then start the 54-bed hospital’s 73,000 square steel on the 77-year-old struc- of Yerba Buena Island, with The first phase of the demo- cutting and dismantling of the feet to 141,000 square feet and ture. The first phase demoli- two separate contracts to be lition includes the removing the steel on the upper and then add a 22-bed skilled nursing tion contract was awarded to awarded this year for the rest concrete from the upper deck, lower deck. unit. The $160 million hospital a joint venture of California of the span to the Oakland to be followed by removal of (continued on page 21) project is being funded through Engineering Contractors of a capital campaign by the hos- Pleasanton and Silverado pital’s board of directors and Contractors of Oakland. Marble Masons Put Their Polish on Foundry Square Inside ♦ Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 3 Finish Courtyards By Richard Bermack Carpenters 22 ..................page 8 Contributing Writer and Photographer Bricklayers 3 ....................page 9 oundry Square, at First and Howard, is a complex of office Electrical Workers 6 ........page 10 Fbuildings with large, inviting Looking up the Hatch ......page 14 granite patios. The patio at Foundry Heat & Frost 16 ................page 14 Building III is comprised of about Roofers 40 ........................page 15 1,500 magnificent black granite pavers that can weigh several hundred pounds Sign Display 510 ..............page 16 each and require 6 men to put in place. Glaziers 718 .....................page 17 Carpet Layers 12 ..............page 18 Setting those behemoth blocks is Hammers & Leads ...........page 19 no simple task, and requires both the individual skills of each mason as well Cement Masons 300 ........page 19 as cooperation from the entire crew. Sprinklers 483 ..................page 20 For marble masons, teamwork is ev- (continued on page 12) BUILDING THE TRADES Division, Unity by Michael Theriault, Secretary-Treasurer San Francisco Building & Construction Trades Council ast month, December 2013, the sions with them about rejoining in the of another Trade are performing it, we International Union of Operating first part of this year. With their return think of the years and efforts we have LEngineers rejoined the Build- we would again be at full strength. invested in becoming proficient in our ing and Construction Trades Depart- Under President Robbie Hunter, the own Trade, and we think, If that work ment, AFL-CIO. Just as the San Fran- California State Building and Construc- is not ours, our time and trouble will cisco Building and Construction Trades tion Trades Council has also welcomed have been wasted. I sometimes say that Council is the umbrella organization for back unions that had broken away. our greatest strength, our high level of construction unions in the City, so the Brother Hunter began to display his skill skill, is at the same time our greatest Building and Construction Trades De- at building accord among the Trades as weakness, in that conflicts that weaken partment represents construction unions Executive Secretary of the Los Angeles/ us result when we feel obliged to protect nationally; and just as for all but a few of Orange Counties Building and Construc- our investment in our skill. Jurisdic- ket share, and not together to increase our 118 years the Council has represent- tion Trades Council, when he helped tional disagreements have plagued us in it, our employers will claim the necessity ed all construction unions here, so the the Carpenters and the Building and the American building trades from our for concessions. If we do not speak with Department has with few exceptions in Construction Trades Department come very beginnings. one voice to politicians, our voices will its 106 years coordinated the joint efforts to an agreement on jurisdictional dispute Our leaders have also disagreed on be whispers in a din of whispers. of all our Internationals. resolution procedures in project labor how much emphasis – and so on how If, on the other hand we work to One of those exceptions began agreement work in Southern California much of your and my dues money – keep our disputes among ourselves, in 2006, when the Operators and the that was patterned closely on one we had should be spent on organizing, and how whether in local or state Building Trades Laborers International Union of North here in Northern California. much on political action. This was the councils or in one united Building and America withdrew from the Department Now, through Brother Hunter’s stated dispute that led to some of the Construction Trades Department; if and founded the National Construction work, Operating Engineers Local 12, more recent rips in the labor movement we then present to our opponents, our Alliance with the United Brotherhood from Southern California, and Operat- that are now being stitched shut. employers, and politicians a single front of Carpenters, which had left the De- ing Engineers Local 3, beside whose The occasions for jurisdictional and of tens of thousands of workers at the partment some years before. members we in San Francisco work ev- policy disagreements are many. Disagree- local level, hundreds of thousands at The Laborers rejoined the Depart- ery day, have rejoined the State Building ments in our movement are inevitable. the state level, millions nationally – then ment in 2008. Now, with the return of the Trades after some years apart. No one among us can know the perfect our voice can ring out, then we can sus- Operators, we see continue a trend at all Anyone who reads Brother Hunter’s course of action to benefit us all. tain the demands that regain our market levels toward a reunification of our move- monthly column in this newspaper has Building Trades unions have fared share and improve our contracts, then ment that will certainly make us stronger. seen him preach the gospel of unity. I better in recent years than other private- our tables and checkbooks can feed our The Operators and the Carpenters say amen. sector unions. This is not to say we children’s aspirations. remained a part of the Council here in Everyone should understand that have fared well. Our market share is far Let us all applaud, then, this latest San Francisco even while they stood this unity takes work. below its historic highs. step away from division and toward apart at the national level. Laborers Lo- We are all proud of our trades, of It suits not just our opponents, but unity, the return of the International cal 261 withdrew from the Council at the their skills, knowledge, and traditions. some of our ostensible friends, whether Union of Operating Engineers to the end of 2005. We welcomed them back in No work in any industry is lacking in employers or politicians, to be able to Building and Construction Trades June of last year. Hod Carriers Local 166 disagreements. In ours, we see work to play us against one another, to exploit Department. left the Council informally shortly after which our skills, knowledge, and tradi- our inevitable disagreements. If we fight And we will hope for and work Laborers Local 261.