Prior to being sworn in as lieutenant governor, Mayor Gavin Newsom earlier this month nominated Vince Courtney of the Northern California District Council of Laborers to serve on the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission.

Vince Courtney

�As the SFPUC continues its work to seismically rebuild our water and wastewater systems and deliver renewable power to San Francisco, Vince Courtney�s valuable experience in workforce training, the building and construction trades and labor negotiations will be tremendous assets to our regional public utility,� says Mayor Newsom. �He is widely respected by business, labor and the community alike and I know he will boost the agency�s leading efforts to expand local hiring by city contractors and deliver reliable water, wastewater and renewable power service. I�m proud to nominate him to serve on the SFPUC and grateful for his willingness to serve the utility�s 2.5 million Bay Area customers.�

Courtney serves as the special assistant to the business manager of the Northern California District Council of Laborers and business representative and political captain for the Laborers� International Union of North America, Local 261. In addition, Courtney serves as the executive director of the Laborers� Community and Training Foundation, which provides pre-apprenticeship training and invaluable hands-on experience to San Francisco youth and the unemployed to develop and foster a career in the building trades.

He has served on multi-union councils and on various labor community boards and commissions, including the San Francisco Labor Council, San Francisco Building and Construction Trades Council and the California Labor Federation. Courtney holds a Bachelor�s Degree from UC Santa Cruz in Politics and a Juris Doctorate degree from San Francisco Law School.

�Vince Courtney�s appointment to the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission is an important milestone for the Laborers� Union,� says Oscar De La Torre, business manager, Northern California District Council of Laborers. �I am grateful to Mayor Newsom for recognizing the Laborers' contribution and value to the construction industry. Courtney will be a strong voice for labor in the Bay Area. This is particularly important as critical projects commence and continue within the SFPUC District, such as the Hetch Hetchy project. This project alone employs hundreds of hard working men and women from throughout much of the Bay Area (Laborers� Locals 261, 304, 324 and 389) and Central Valley (Laborers� Locals 73, 185, 291, 294 and 1130).�