Rally and Press Conference for Good Jobs at the Port of Oakland

Press conference and speak out during Port Commission meeting on
the need for good jobs

*Community to Force Public Hearing on Jobs at the Port of Oakland*

*Publicly Owned and Financed Oakland Army Base Redevelopment Project
Negotiations Falling Short on Promise of Good Jobs*

*Oakland*  Negotiations between the Port of Oakland, Chicago-based
developer Centerpoint, and the community are heating up on the publicly
owned and financed Oakland Army Base Redevelopment Project. A deal is
expected before the fall, but the parties have not reached agreement on a
policy to provide good jobs, and the Port Commissioners have held no public
hearing. Residents, labor unions, youth organizations, and faith leaders
will hold a press conference and then force the issue during the public
comment period of this Thursday’s Port Commission meeting.

The decommissioned Oakland Army Base is one of the most valuable publicly
owned pieces of real estate in the Bay Area, the redevelopment will use
public financing, and Centerpoint is owned by CalPERS, the public sector
worker pension fund. In 2012, the City of Oakland signed a landmark Good
Jobs Agreement with the community on its portion of the Army Base, and for
the last five years*,* the Port has promised to strive for even stronger
jobs standards on for its half of the Base. With only several weeks until
the Port hopes to reach a deal, that promise has yet to be fulfilled.

“This is public land that will be developed by a company using my pension
funds,” said Pat Davis, a public sector retiree from the City of Oakland.
“I want my money used to create good jobs for local community members so
that they can put food on the table and stay in their homes in this crazy
housing market.”

At the press conference and during public comment, the community will
advocate for:

·         Local hire especially for those with barriers to employment

·         Stable, full-time work and a voice on the job for workers

·         “Ban the Box” to create opportunity for the formerly incarcerated

·         Community monitoring and enforcement

“We need a People’s Port, and that means a Port that creates good jobs for
local residents,” said Shirley Burnell, a 36-year West Oakland resident and
community advocate. “The Port has always promised us that the Army Base
redevelop-ment would serve our community and that they would do better than
the City-side. We need to see that on this deal.

Revive Oakland is a coalition of more than 30 organizations including
labor, community and faith partners working to ensure good jobs and healthy
communities on large development projects. Steering members include the
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), the East Bay
Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE), the International Association
of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, International Longshore and Warehouse
Union Local 6, Oakland Community Organizations (OCO), and Urban Peace
Movement.