Supervisors call for L.A. County contractors to hire more veterans

Los Angeles County supervisors voted Tuesday to ask contractors to hire more local veterans on county construction projects.

Under the measure proposed by Supervisors Mark Ridley-Thomas and Michael D. Antonovich and approved unanimously by the five-member board, the county would require a “good faith” effort by contractors to ensure that veterans who live in the county make up a significant percentage of the workers they hire to build county facilities.

Ridley-Thomas initially proposed setting strict quotas for hiring veterans, but other supervisors balked at making it anything more than a goal.

On some past construction projects in economically depressed areas, the county has asked contractors to hire a set percentage of workers -- typically 30% -- from the area immediately around the project. In some cases, the hiring percentage was required and in others the contractor was simply asked to make a “good fath” effort.

A report by the county’s chief executive office showed that contractors generally met the hiring goal even if it wasn’t a strict requirement. A seperate report commissioned by Ridley-Thomas looked at seven projects and found that more local workers were hired on projects where the percentage was mandatory.

The veteran hiring policy will be the first such program to apply to all major county construction projects. Ridley-Thomas said he hopes eventually it might become a mandatory program, and that similar mandates could be extended to other disadvantaged groups.

“A lot of people like to give lip service [to veterans] around November,” he said. “It’s time we put a program in place that represents a policy focus and does more than a Veterans Day parade.”

The veteran hiring guideline will apply to construction projects of more than $2.5 million that are not financed with federal money. The measure approved Tuesday did not specify what percentage of project workers would have to be veterans, instead leaving it to the county’s chief executive office, public works and veterans affairs departments to decide on the appropriate figure.

A report by local economist Paul Ong, commissioned by Ridley-Thomas, found that there are about 180,000 working-age veterans in the county. The veterans’ overall unemployment rate is comparable to the county average of 11.4%, but veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War and recent conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan showed a higher unemployment rate of 13.3%.

Veterans and advocates praised the move.

“This is going to give veterans a great opportunity to find meaningful employment, and it is going to give agencies a great opportunity to target veterans who are looking for careers in this field,” said Blas Villalobos, director of community programs and veteran services for the United States Veterans Initiative.