CBAs that ABC: Using Community Benefit Agreements (CBAs) to Actually Benefit Communities  

• Good jobs for the people building and operating the facility.
• Training and apprenticeship programs so community members are the people getting and keeping those good jobs.
• Companies that acknowledge worker and community concerns and agree in writing to mechanisms to address them.

That’s the potential for Community Benefit Agreements. Here is a BGA checklist of CBA provisions that can improve the economic lives of local people and protect their social and physical environment. Use the menu or the links below to navigate to resources for each:

1. Address Community Concerns: A living document that lists the economic, social, and environmental concerns that have been raised in the community and how the company plans to address them.
2. Justice 40 & Good Jobs Principles: A defined set of commitments to meet the Good Jobs Principles and Justice 40 goals.
3. Train for Real Jobs: Agreements with union-affiliated, Registered Apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, other workforce training programs, community colleges, and other technical education programs on job training and placement especially for local people of color and currently dislocated and low-wage workers. These provisions can be part of the local hire and targeted hire benchmarks in Community Workforce Agreements that also cover wages, hours, safety and health, and other working conditions.
4. Agreements with Unions: Project-labor and collective bargaining agreements with unions with the terms and conditions of recruitment, employment, and dispute resolution.
5. Union Neutrality: A written commitment to remain neutral during a union organizing campaign.
6. Monitor Progress with Community: An ongoing monitoring process of the company’s commitments that includes representative members of the community and an opportunity for public involvement. To be effective, this process compensates community representatives just as it compensates company representatives and includes penalties for non-compliance.
7. Make Up for the Harm: An acknowledgment of any harm that the project is likely to cause and the benefits the company will provide as compensation, including funding for parks, schools, affordable housing, or childcare centers.

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