Significant numbers of career-track apprenticeship programmes and jobs on the cards.
The Los Angeles Metro Board of Directors recently voted on a sweeping, agency-wide Construction Careers Policy covering construction for all new Metro projects for the next 30 years. The scope includes projects funded under Measure R, the half-cent sales tax.
Measure R, approved in late 2008, commits to a projected USD 40 billion in traffic relief and transportation upgrades throughout LA County over the next 30 years. Construction projects at Metro, including those funded by Measure R, total over USD 70 billion in infrastructure investment, creating over 260,000 construction jobs.
The move guarantees quality jobs for communities with high unemployment rates by increasing access to construction apprenticeship programmes and jobs. The policy is likely to set a precedent as the first of its kind for a major transit agency in the US.
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
