BNSF, LA/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council sign $255 million labor agreement

BNSF and the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council have finalized a Project Labor Agreement worth more than $255 million for the construction of the proposed Southern California International Gateway, representing more than half of BNSF's $500 million private investment in the new facility. The agreement governs safety, quality and the timely construction of SCIG and will provide job and apprentice opportunities. The construction jobs created during the three-year construction phase will also contribute more than $85 million in federal, state and local taxes. "SCIG will be the greenest intermodal facility in the U.S. We look forward to working with the council and affiliated trades to build SCIG and to bring its traffic, air quality and economic benefits to Southern California," said Matthew Rose, chairman and chief executive officer of BNSF. "We're proud to provide BNSF with a skilled local union workforce to build SCIG," added Robbie Hunter, executive secretary of the Los Angeles/Orange Counties Building and Construction Trades Council. "We need to build this new environmentally friendly rail yard. This has been a long process and the time to build it is now." SCIG is designed to be the greenest intermodal facility in the United States. SCIG will allow containers to be loaded onto rail just four miles from the docks, rather than traveling 24 miles on local roads and the 710 freeway to downtown rail facilities. SCIG will allow 1.5 million more containers to move by more efficient and environmentally preferred rail through the Alameda Corridor each year, greatly reducing truck traffic congestion in Southern California. Upon completion, SCIG will create up to 22,000 new direct and indirect jobs in Southern California, including 14,000 new and indirect jobs in Los Angeles by 2036, according to a study by IHS Global Insight. BNSF has also committed to create a local jobs training program and offer priority hiring for new jobs to qualified local job applicants.