A pair of companion bills that would change how prevailing wage is calculated for public construction projects are under consideration during the 2021 Oregon legislative session.

Senate Bill 493 and House Bill 2419 would largely do away with regional surveys that currently are used to set prevailing wage and would instead mandate that collective bargaining agreements for each of the craft trades involved be used to determine prevailing wage across the state. Where more than one collective bargaining agreement exists in the state, an average of the wages set by those agreements would then determine the prevailing wage. The current wage surveys would be used only where no collective bargaining agreement exists for a given trade or occupation.

Public hearings have been held by both the House and Senate committees on business and labor, with the Senate committee voting 3-1 on March 9 to pass SB 493 to the Senate floor for consideration. HB 2419, meanwhile, was debated by the House committee on Feb. 10, but no further action has been taken.

Supporters of the bills include organized labor and trade associations. Officials are optimistic that SB 493, in particular, may have a fighting chance at passage.

“It is a positive sign,” Professional Business Development Group (PBDG) Executive Director Kenechi Onyeagusi said following the Senate committee’s vote. “I can tell you that I have conversations like this all the time where people will not bid on work if it’s not prevailing wage. It’s very important to us that prevailing wage is the standard, because what it does is allow smaller firms that might otherwise not be competitive to attract workforce.”

The PBDG is a trade association that represents minority-owned, woman-owned and COBID (Certification Office for Business Inclusion and Diversity) certified contractors. These are precisely the types of firms that would benefit most from the proposed bill, Onyeagusi said. Such firms would then be able to recruit and retain skilled and experienced craftspeople, who in turn would help make those firms more competitive in the marketplace.

“When you’re starting off a one-man firm, or with a couple of employees and you’re needing to attract workforce, having a job that pays prevailing wage, it’s a cost that the owner is ultimately agreeing to pay,” she said. “That small firm is able to attract the same caliber of workers as a much larger firm. It levels the playing field in a way that not a lot of things do.”

Matt Swanson, political director for the Pacific Northwest Regional Council of Carpenters, agreed. The legislation would aid contractors in rural communities across the state, he said.

“We feel really good about the prospects,” he said. “We’ve had a number of good conversations about making the rates less cumbersome and setting the prevailing wage rate in a way that’s more predictable.”

A similar policy is already law in Washington, Swanson said, adding that fears of it significantly increasing public project costs appear to have been overblown.

“It’s been an ongoing issue in Oregon for some time,” he said. “We saw it pass in the state of Washington, and it really offers more stability in the wage rates. That’s good for public works and public employees.”

Opponents of the two bills include the Oregon School Boards Association, the League of Oregon Cities and other organizations that represent public agencies. They say the bills could significantly raise labor costs.

“We are highly concerned that relying upon one collective bargaining agreement, which could reflect specialized work or unique project-based needs, could result in significant wage spikes and contribute to a lack of certainty for cities when planning and budgeting for public infrastructure investments, school capital construction projects and some affordable housing projects,” Tracy Rutten Rainey, a lobbyist for the League of Oregon Cities, testified during the House committee hearing.

Washington’s policy has increased costs of public projects such as affordable housing, and generated litigation, Rainey and others say.

“If this bill passes and becomes effective, we expect wages to increase,” Lori Sattenspiel, director of legislative services for the Oregon School Boards Association, said during the House committee hearing. “These eight districts going out for a bond now may find themselves short of funds to complete projects.”

Robert Camarillo, executive secretary of the Oregon State Building and Construction Trades Council, said this stance could be the result of a lack of understanding of how prevailing wage works.

“I think a lot of them, from what I hear, they don’t understand the concept of prevailing wage,” Camarillo said. “The goal is never to increase the cost of projects. We’re all taxpayers, and we want to see our tax dollars spent responsibly.”

Instead, Camarillo said, it is more likely that a higher prevailing wage will allow contractors to attract workers with a higher skill level, leading to a need for a smaller labor pool.

The current annual wage surveys fail to accurately measure wages across all trades, he added, because they do not capture the entirety of the projects being queried.

“Our concern is when the survey is done, we don’t know what phase of the project that survey will capture,” he said. “If we had all the crafts on the job all the time it might be a better snapshot. But to come in only those four weeks, we can’t get an accurate snapshot of the work being done that week.”

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During the pandemic, small business owners continue to face challenges in forging business relationships, learning technical skills and gaining mentors.

To help, Professional Business Development Group, a Portland-based nonprofit, has launched more than 60 classes connecting subcontractors to mentors. Classes are taught by general contractors and other business professionals.

Major contractors that have offered their services include Kiewit, Stacy and Witbeck Inc., Walsh Construction Co. and Skanska USA Building.

“We have really great mentors that are volunteering their time,” said Kenechi Onyeagusi, PBDG‘s executive director.

Classes this month include “Contract Review: What you need to know about construction contracts” and sessions on using Last Planner scheduling software and AutoCAD software.

Now more than ever, subcontractors and small businesses need to make connections with others, Onyeagusi said.

“Covid has really helped exacerbate the need in our community,” she said. “Businesses that were just getting by – Covid has put a lot of pressure on those businesses.”

The programs are paid for by Portland’s 1 percent tax on large retailers and by Business Oregon. PBDG is also looking for more financial support from the business community. CARES Act funding will expire in December.

Many of the classes are free for certified COBID and minority-owned and woman-owned firms. For more information, visit .

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Efforts by the city of Portland to achieve construction equity goals have been undercut by “mismanagement, waste and gamesmanship,” according to a report released Wednesday.

Auditor Mary Hull Caballero found some contractors cheated the system. For example, certified woman-owned firms were observed by city staff without their owners ever present, or with a man – usually the owner’s husband – in the manager’s role. In other cases, white-owned contractors created smaller companies and registered them as “emerging small businesses,” and then subcontracted to themselves. Also, city staff found instances where a certified firm was not doing the actual work, but another contractor’s equipment was on site.

Caballero’s report comes amid a national reckoning on racism. In the building industry, some Black executives such as Andrew Colas of Colas Construction have called on public agencies to do more to support Black-owned firms, saying existing contracting preferences aren’t working.

Caballero, in an interview, said Portland’s Procurement Services never had clear direction and consistent resources from city leaders.

“They set in motion something that was in contradiction from the beginning,” she said. “Council needs to get clear on what it is trying to achieve and how it can do that legally with the level of resources it’s willing to provide to these programs.”

Advocacy groups called on the city to take action to shore up the equity programs.

“The report gives the opportunity to improve the program,” said Nate McCoy, executive director of the National Association of Minority Contractors‘ Oregon chapter.

The 29-page report focused on a group of programs that were started in 2012 to reduce disparities in contracting and boost opportunities for woman-owned, minority-owned and emerging small businesses. Large public contracts often go to major firms that have been around for decades and are typically led by white owners and executives. The audit found that while the programs succeeded in reducing some disparities, they are “unpopular with many key constituents.”

Widespread dissatisfaction stems from mismanagement and legal constraints that give city officials few opportunities to choose contractors based on race, the audit found.

The audit was especially critical of the city’s Prime Contractor Development Program, which is meant to help small contractors grow. The program “benefited few participants and suffered from mismanagement and waste,” the audit found. “Additionally, white-owned firms won most of the contract dollars awarded via the program. The program’s training and technical assistance programs were generally unsuccessful, disorganized and wasteful.”

The Prime Contractor Development Program’s original focus on minority-owned contractors was diluted, in part because of legal concerns, McCoy said.

“The program was always intended to serve minority contractors,” he said. “Politics and risk and legal authority kinds of things come up, so a program that’s intended to help small minority businesses ends up having to lump everything else in.”

Caballero’s office made 16 recommendations for improving the equity programs. Among them were to take steps to prevent bundling, ensure equal access among contractors to project information, and to centralize and formalize outreach to contractors.

The programs stem from a 2011 disparity study that found stark differences in opportunities for minority contractors.

Then in June 2019, in an audit by Caballero’s office of the Portland Building rehabilitation project, the city was criticized for failing to distribute nearly $1 million in funding set aside for minority contractors.

Advocacy groups joined in the auditor’s finding that there’s a perception certain contractors have an advantage via existing relationships with city staff.

“We call for an end to backroom dealings that undermine the words ‘access’ and ‘equity,’” Professional Business Development Group Executive Director Kenechi Onyeagusi stated in a news release. “We call for public officials and city employees to be unafraid to uphold established processes, abide by its own laws and equity commitments to regain public trust.”

The report focused much of its criticism on the city’s Procurement Services – part of the Office of Management and Finance. Others also bear responsibility for making the programs work, McCoy said.

“There has to be a lot more shared responsibility from our electeds, from bureaus, from (project managers),” he said.

NAMC-Oregon supports the Prime Contractor Development Program, but recognizes changes must be made, McCoy said. The group will issue a full-bodied statement in the coming days, he added.

Caballero said the city now has to make up for lost time.

“Council had good intentions,” she said. “They seemed to want to repair historical inequities and didn’t get the job done. There are consequences for people who are in this industry in terms of wealth creation and advancement and opportunity.”

Caballero will present her findings to the City Council, likely at a Sept. 30 meeting. She expects a “rambunctious conversation” regarding the report and its recommendations, she said.

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The Black Lives Matter movement has spurred corporate America into action, prompting donations, statements of solidarity and public reexaminations by some of the nation’s most recognizable companies.

The construction industry, however, has been noticeably quiet.

“It’s been shocking to me,” said Andrew Colas, president of Portland-based Colas Construction. “The CEO of Warner Bros. made statements. The CEOs of Fortune 500 companies have made statements. There’s just been complete silence on the local level, on the national level, in our industry.”

Colas Construction is the largest Black-owned construction firm in Oregon, and one of the largest on the West Coast. The company has tackled large public projects, including a sizable renovation of the Oregon Convention Center.

“Change is on all of us, and the chance to lead it comes in the choices we make every day,” Colas wrote in a statement posted to the company’s Instagram page on June 3. “Speak up, stand up and disrupt the cycle.”

Colas said he decided to say something after hearing little from others in the construction industry.

“A $650 billion industry has had nothing to say,” he added in a text message. “So we had to speak up.”

The death of George Floyd, a Black man, in Minneapolis after he was held under the knee of a police officer for 7 minutes and 46 seconds has galvanized protests and forced a fast-moving reckoning of racism in American life. So far, there have been few immediate repercussions in the construction industry.

Some organizations connected to the building industry have embraced the Black Lives Matter movement. Prosper Portland posted a Black Lives Matter webpage. Several architecture firms have posted supportive statements. Lever Architecture, for instance, issued one that read in part, “It is incumbent on us as architects to engage communities of color and to listen with humility.” Lease Crutcher Lewis also posted a supportive statement to Instagram.

Statements are good, but require follow-through, said Nate McCoy, executive director of the National Association of Minority Contractors-Oregon.

“Statements mean nothing if there are no real efforts or change behind them,” he said.

As for Associated General Contractors‘ Oregon-Columbia chapter, it has taken a low-key approach to the moment.

“During this time, we have quietly chosen to continue the work we have started and been part of for many decades,” Executive Director Mike Salsgiver stated in an email message. “The AGC Oregon-Columbia Chapter condemns the murder of George Floyd – and the behaviors that led to his death and to the deaths of many others – in the strongest possible terms. We fully understand the deplorable and unacceptable effects these crimes against our fellow citizens have had, and continue to lead and support initiatives that will eliminate racism in our society and our industry.”

The local AGC chapter has worked for many years with NAMC-Oregon, the Oregon Association of Minority Entrepreneurs, LatinoBuilt, the Professional Business Development Group and others, Salsgiver stated.

“We continue to stand with these and other organizations to ensure that this work will continue,” he added.

Locally, the construction industry remains overwhelmingly white in ownership as well as in executive and managerial roles, despite a diverse entry-level workforce. But public-sector work has helped Black-owned firms grow. Contracting preferences that favor minority-owned contractors have boosted companies including Colas Construction, Raimore Construction and O’Neill Construction Group in winning major contracts from local public agencies such as Prosper Portland, Metro and TriMet.

Colas Construction in 2017 landed the largest public contract awarded to a minority-owned firm in Oregon at that time: a $32 million deal to perform interior renovations at the Oregon Convention Center.

That was exceeded in March by with TriMet for the Division Transit Project in Southeast Portland. Raimore co-founder Jeff Moreland could not be reached for comment.

But contracting preferences haven’t done nearly enough to compensate for the advantages of white-owned firms that have decades of accumulated wealth and business relationships as well as large-scale bonding capacity, Colas said.

“It’s about economic development for Black people,” he said. “There are a lot of Black businesses out there that are fully capable, that do great work and just don’t get the opportunities others do.”

Portland should have many more successful Black-owned construction firms, according to Colas.

“Until we start seeing more Raimores, more City of Roses, more Colas’, you’re not going to see that (economic development) piece,” he said. “Can anybody tell me five Black-owned companies that have more than 50 employees? You can’t. It’s not working.”

McCoy echoed those sentiments.

“It’s shameful that it’s only Colas and Raimore that are getting contracts at the level that they’re at,” he said. “Why is that? I think there’s still a systemic problem.”

McCoy and others are pushing public agencies to move away from race-neutral policies to race-conscious policies that take into account historic discrimination.

Black-owned firms and other emerging contractors typically begin as subcontractors. More must be done to help them grow, said Daniel Drinkward, vice president of Hoffman Construction, a major general contractor.

“It’s got to go beyond hitting the contracting and workforce targets,” he said.

Hoffman mentors minority-owned contractors on business aspects such as insurance and accounting that sometimes prove challenging for new firms, Drinkward said.

“We spend a lot of time working with minority-owned firms to make sure that when they do get contracts on our projects that they are successful and that it helps build their business,” he said.

Hoffman Construction stands with its Black workers, Drinkward added.

“Hoffman is committed to providing an anti-racist and inclusive workplace,” he said. “The status quo is not acceptable and we have to do better.”

The widespread protests have generated some optimism in the fight against racism, Colas said.

“It has been heartening,” he said. “It’s nice to see all shades of people standing up and saying this isn’t working. What’s been happening the last 400 years is wrong, and we need to acknowledge it.

“You get to the point as a Black person where you just feel helpless,” he added. “Our struggles are serious and they’re real.”

McCoy said he’s had conversations in the industry where others say “all lives matter” as a counterpoint to the Black Lives Matter message. Such race-neutral language accomplishes nothing, he said.

“Absolutely all lives matter,” he said. “Black lives have to matter more, and have to be called out individually because things have to change.”

Correction: This story earlier referred to an incorrect timeline for the Minneapolis incident. Media reports have since indicated George Floyd was pinned by an officer’s knee for 7 minutes, 46 seconds, not 8 minutes, 46 seconds.

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Abdias Calixte grew up in Haiti and began to learn the trades by working alongside his father, a preacher who also worked on houses. Calixte held a job as a security guard before moving to the United States in 2003. While earning an associate’s degree in welding at Lower Columbia College in Longview, Washington, he heard a presentation in which the students, especially minorities, were encouraged to explore careers in the trades.

“He told me that I could make $30 an hour within four years. I had never dreamed of making that kind of money in a lifetime and I wanted to investigate,” Calixte said. “He said it was all possible if I was willing to learn.”

The presenter assured Calixte that his English-speaking skills were strong enough to be successful, and encouraged him to do an apprenticeship with the local union.

“As an immigrant black male, I was lost. I wasn’t sure what to do or what to say, but I was welcomed and they helped me get started, true to their word,” he said.

Calixte launched his new career in 2006 and in 2012 started his company, Complete Fusion Welding LLC, which provides full-service structural steel and miscellaneous steel welding services. “The quality of my work represents who I am, and I wanted to be able to express myself through the quality of my work,” he said.

He has experienced his share of bumps along the way. He started his company with no bonding, a partial inventory of equipment and some administrative challenges. At one point, his truck – and all of his equipment – was stolen.

Calixte, who is a member of the Professional Business Development Group, credits mentors such as fellow Building Diversity award recipient Faye Burch and Bruce Reid at Turner Construction Co. with providing the knowledge, guidance and support that has helped him grow his company. He noted his gratitude for the 91��Ƶ’s recognition as well.

“I’ve never been more humbled to see the whole world is trying to help me out,” he said.

While he is firmly established in the Portland metro area, Calixte’s home country is never far from his mind. He used his own money to establish a small orphanage there.

“I’m not looking for funds and I’m not looking for help. I just wanted to do this because it’s the right thing to do,” he said.

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Daniel Miranda grew up working in his father’s sheet metal shop in Mexico, and swore he wasn’t going to do the same work for a living when he was older. But when he moved to the United States, he joined the apprenticeship program with the Sheet Metal Worker’s International Association Local 16 and now owns Just Right Heating and Cooling with his wife, Jodie Marion.

The company specializes in commercial and industrial HVAC projects in Oregon and Southwest Washington. In its newly opened shop, the company fabricates ductwork and architectural sheet metal, which its crew installs along with HVAC equipment. Just Right Heating and Cooling also services HVAC systems. It partners with architects, engineers, owners, plant managers, contractors and suppliers and other project team members.

Its portfolio of projects includes Portland 5, the city of Vancouver Operations Center, and the Oregon Zoo and its AfriCafe. The company is now partnering with General Sheet Metal and Hoffman Construction Co. on the Multnomah County Central Courthouse project and the Gladys McCoy Health Department Headquarters. It also will replace the HVAC equipment at the Gresham Library later this season.

Just Right Heating and Cooling, a member of Professional Business Development Group, hires MWESB businesses as subcontractors and “we share our story and insights as much as possible and listen to theirs – that’s how we learn from each other,” Miranda said.

“We value the traditions and experiences of being a Local 16 signatory, and we combine that strength with diverse outlooks, experiences, and behaviors to drive innovation and efficiency,” the company states on its website. “We know the best way to build trust and long-term relationships is to treat our partners fairly, perform above expectations, and work together to solve problems.”

Miranda and Marion believe that environmental stewardship is their duty and consistently look for ways to “green it up.” Just Right volunteers to drive trees for Friends of Trees as participants in plantings. The company will raise money for pancreatic cancer research this fall in the PurpleStride 5K. In addition, the company and many of its field crew provide pro bono work for people who lose heat and have no means to pay for repairs.

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