LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS joined dozens of construction and trade union workers Wednesday in a protest against a commercial real estate developer at one of the company’s project sites in South San Francisco.
They accused construction developer SteelWave of hiring out-of-area contractors for its Discovery Station project, allowing SteelWave to pay workers lower wages than required for contractors based in the Bay Area.
The Discovery Station project is a mixed-use site that will have a Safeway, residential units, and a biotech campus. The project, the construction of which is ongoing, is located at South Spruce Avenue and El Camino Real in South San Francisco.
“They elected not to employ local workers, local contractors and support the local apprenticeship training programs,” said Mark Burri, the business manager for the union UA Local 467 Plumbers, Pipefitters and HVACR Service Technicians.
Members of several local labor unions from trades including roofing, sheet metal fabrication, and plumbing stood on a corner across the street from the Discovery Station construction site Wednesday holding protest signs.
Tom Trayer, a member of Sheet Metal Workers’ Local Union No. 104, said that the sheet metal contractor hired by SteelWave is based in the Sacramento area.
“The sheet metal contractor they brought out here, they’re out of Roseville,” he said in an interview. “They pay far lower wages than what is normally paid out here.”
Because the Discovery Station project is privately funded, the developer is not required to employ local workers.
Local politicians including San Bruno Mayor Rico Medina, Daly City City Councilmember Juslyn Manalo, South San Francisco City Councilmember James Coleman, and state Sen. Josh Becker, D-Menlo Park, attended the rally to show their support.
Becker said that employing local union workers helps grow the middle class, which has shrunk in the past decade in the Bay Area due to the high cost of living, according to a 2024 research study from California Community Builders, a nonprofit that conducts research and advocates for housing policies that close the racial wealth gap.
“When folks get into these trades we’re talking about, these are tickets to the middle class,” he said in an interview. “It’s really about investing in our community, investing in that pipeline to the middle class.”
Protesters also noted how not employing local workers from regional unions takes opportunities away from those wanting to enter trade apprenticeships.
“With big projects like this, these are perfect opportunities for people to get into trades and start an apprenticeship,” Trayer said. “When you hire local, not only do you help the community out here in South San Francisco, you put young people to work.”
A ‘really, really dangerous’ workplace
Some union members have also filed complaints with the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health, or Cal/OSHA , after they allegedly saw roofers working on elevated ledges without being properly tied down.
“It was pretty shocking,” Trayer said. “The guys were in the rain on a slippery rooftop with no safety equipment, which is obviously really, really dangerous.”
SteelWave did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Julie Lind is the president of the San Mateo County Central Labor Council, a coalition of local labor unions. She was grateful to see members of several labor unions joining with local politicians in speaking out against SteelWave’s employment practices for the Discovery Station development.
“We’re coming together in community, both with our labor family, our elected officials, our community partners, to show out and say, ‘This is not how we do business in San Mateo County,’” Lind said.