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Summary
King County has renewed its Master Community Workforce Agreement with the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council and the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. The agreement sets basic terms and conditions of employment for county public works construction projects.
Story
King County, the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council, and the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters have renewed a Master Community Workforce Agreement (MCWA) for another five years. First signed in 2020, the MCWA is a comprehensive pre-hire collective bargaining agreement that serves as a standard Project Labor Agreement. It sets basic terms and conditions of employment on the county's public works construction projects.
The MCWA acts as the mechanism for implementing the county's highly successful Priority Hire Program, which prioritizes local workers from economically distressed areas on construction projects.
"This agreement demonstrates our shared commitment to diversity, safety, and collective bargaining agreements in the construction industry," said King County Executive Shannon Braddock. "The MCWA has been incredibly successful, creating thousands of living-wage jobs while diversifying and strengthening our local construction workforce."
Since 2020, the MCWA and the Priority Hire Program have created nearly 4,000 jobs for local construction workers, resulting in $35 million in wages flowing back into the county's economically distressed communities. In 2024, more than 1,000 Priority Hire workers performed nearly 190,000 labor hours on county construction projects. This workforce included 481 minority workers and 151 women.
Former King County Executive Dow Constantine, key in the first iteration of the MCWA, joined Executive Braddock and labor partners for today’s renewal signing at the Teamsters Hall in Tukwila.
"As Executive, I was pleased to have the opportunity to help protect the rights of workers through the original MCWA," said Constantine, who now serves as CEO of Sound Transit. "I am proud that Executive Braddock is carrying on this important work, just as we and our labor partners will continue to advance the rights of Puget Sound workers through Sound Transit construction and operations."
"We were thrilled to have King County Executive Shannon Braddock and Sound Transit CEO and former King County Executive Dow Constantine join leaders of the Seattle Building Trades for a signing ceremony for the King County Master Workforce Agreement," said Monty Anderson, executive secretary of the Seattle Building and Construction Trades Council. "This agreement builds on the county's successful and nationally recognized Community Workforce Agreement and Priority Hire programs, which are fostering economic opportunity through careers in construction and pathways out of poverty for the most vulnerable through apprenticeship. The Building Trades are building stronger communities with the highest quality craftspeople, by being inclusive and by working in innovative partnerships. We deeply value our partnership with King County."
"This is what partnerships look like. This is what it means to build community wealth," said Antonio Acosta, regional manager for the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters. "The King County workforce agreement is a historic win for the hardworking men and women who build this country. The Western States Regional Council of Carpenters believes in creating opportunities in our communities for jobs, wages, and benefits and with this agreement it will create a standard to raise a family, build the future, and uplift the local community for years to come. I have 20 years’ experience within the construction industry lacing up my boots in the rain, cold, and sun swinging a hammer and building from a blueprint so I know what it is like when the system works in the communities' favor. This agreement is a foundation we can build on for the future of King County and the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters."
All county construction projects over $5 million are subject to Priority Hire requirements under the MCWA. Among the provisions:
- Contractors must include a certain percentage of Priority Hire worker labor hours on construction projects.
- Labor unions must prioritize the dispatch of Priority Hire workers to projects.
- Non-union contractors can bring up to three journey-level workers and two apprentice workers to a project.
The MCWA also establishes apprenticeship utilization and diversity goals, sets forth standard work hours, safety standards, and pledges to follow local collective bargaining agreements. As in the 2020 agreement, the 2025 renewal includes a no-strike provision for building trades workers at King County project sites.
"I applaud King County Executive Shannon Braddock and members of the MLK Labor movement on the signing of the Master Community Workforce agreement," said King County Councilmember Teresa Mosqueda. "This is a continuation and an extension of King County's commitment to investing in strong labor standards that lift up working families. What excites me the most about Community Workforce Agreements is that they put the community to work – women, workers of color, apprentices, people restarting their careers or reentering the workforce. The renewal of this agreement ensures that our county residents know that every public dollar we spend is investing in the public good through living wage jobs and building stronger communities."
"It's exciting to look back on the first five years of this program and celebrate the incredible success that we have accomplished together," said King County Councilmember Rod Dembowski. "We have completed 26 construction projects, from the Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station to improvements at Harborview Medical Center. It is hundreds of millions of dollars invested, and hundreds of thousands of hours of work completed. Skilled trades workers have been trained up and paid well in the process. Communities long left behind are now being included in this economic engine with our priority hire goals. The trained workforce, the economic security for families, and the projects built will all benefit our region for generations to come."
Projects completed under the previous MCWA include:
- Construction of the Georgetown Wet Weather Treatment Station
- Improvements related to Metro Transit's RapidRide H Line
- Battery backup power station at West Point Treatment Plant
- Partial remodel of the Maleng Building at Harborview Medical Center
- Portions of the East Lake Sammamish Trail in south Sammamish
Projects currently underway include:
- South County Recycling and Transfer Station
- Eastrail Wilburton Trestle Rehabilitation
- Improvements related to Metro Transit's RapidRide I Line
- Lower Duwamish Waterway Remediation
- Renovations at various Health Through Housing sites
Learn more about the MCWA.
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