Brothers and Sisters,

Chances are, you’ve heard a lot about the Abundance movement lately. It seems to have advocates everywhere these days, from the governor’s mansion to the halls of the Legislature and even a former President. 

And who doesn’t love abundance? Don’t we all believe that we should be dreaming big and building more housing and infrastructure in this state? Of course!

But, as I wrote in an op-ed for the San Diego Union-Tribune last weekend, the real question we should be asking is “Abundance for whom?” 

While the California Labor Movement has always supported building large projects, whether it’s housing developments or stadiums, hotels or big infrastructure projects like high-speed rail. We have been very clear that those projects must come with strong labor standards for the workers who build and those who maintain those projects. What we don’t support is speeding up the building process without a guarantee of good union-scale jobs. 

True abundance should come for everyone, not just the rich and powerful. We are in an era of unprecedented greed and we shouldn’t give corporations and wealthy developers a pass when it comes to compensating the folks who do the work. 

Many of those who have advocated the loudest for "Abundance", for removing all obstacles for construction including unions and labor standards, don’t have workers’ best interests at heart. Which again raises the question: “Abundance for whom?”

Click here to read the full op-ed.

In Solidarity, 

Lorena Gonzalez