What and Why?
Community workforce agreements are agreements between project owners and labor or between contractors and labor that outline how each will improve the project outcomes for communities. We are incorporating community workforce agreements, known as CWAs, into our contracting and project delivery practices, particularly for large projects.
CWAs are a critical tool for ensuring that major construction projects create opportunities for local people and disadvantaged workers. CWAs include language and terms about hiring workers, engaging firms from targeted populations, and other ways to help the community. We have a serious workforce challenge at a time when we have an increasing number of ODOT projects to deliver. CWAs are one tool to build a strong and diverse worker pipeline.