David Bini has been the Executive Director of the Santa Clara and San Benito Counties Building and Construction Trades Council since 2018. An electrician and IBEW 332 member by trade, he leads the Council’s work on behalf of 27 affiliates and more than 30,000 members.

He began his career as an inside wireman before serving as a Business Agent and then Organizing Director for Local 332 for seven years prior to moving to the Building Trades Council.

The job is challenging, David says, because each affiliate has its own issues and priorities on behalf of their craft. 

“I work to find places where our affiliates are aligned and advance their interests,” he says. “Where there is no alignment, it’s my job to help create it.”

Alignment creates opportunities, he explains, and it allows him to pursue the Council’s primary goal – creating more work hours for union members. Tactics include advocating for more funding for public works projects, securing Project Labor Agreements for both the public and private sector, and building a pipeline of skilled workers through robust apprenticeship programs.

“Our biggest collective challenge is dispelling the narrative that union labor is too expensive, especially with respect to housing projects,” David says. “Our first step is to dispel the myth by getting the facts out to elected officials about the quality and productivity of union labor, and how when factored into the overall cost of a project, it is not a huge barrier to the bottom line.”

David is also a member of the Labor Council’s Executive Board, and he has worked on the Council’s efforts, along with Working Partnerships USA, to create momentum around building workforce housing in San Jose.

“Solidarity within the labor movement around efforts like this gives us an opportunity to expand our power and make progress,” David says.

He also serves on the Santa Clara County Fairgrounds Board, the State Building Trades Executive Board, the Silicon Valley Ethics Roundtable, and the Santa Clara County Democratic Central Committee.

When he’s not working, David enjoys spending time with his two teenage daughters Bella and Leia. He’s also an outdoorsman who focuses on hiking, biking, boating and riding his motorcycle.