CBAs are most effective when they are designed early (especially before a project breaks ground) and reflect priorities identified by those directly impacted by the project. The most effective CBAs follow a consistent set of best practices, outlined below.

How to Develop a Strong CBA 

A strong CBA translates authentic community priorities into enforceable commitments. It includes specific standards, reporting requirements, and penalties for noncompliance — the tools that turn community vision into binding outcomes.

Strong CBAs: 

• Set specific, measurable goals and timelines to track that benefits actually reach community members.

• Embed transparent oversight mechanisms so the public can monitor the benefits and costs of the development throughout the process.

• Are legally enforceable through clear standards, reporting requirements, and strong penalties for noncompliance. 

• Build inclusive and engaged coalitions that involve workers, local union leaders, community organizations, and historically excluded groups. Having a united front makes a coalition a stronger negotiator.

• Engage these coalitions early and often. Elected leaders and project developers must authentically engage communities before key decisions are made to build trust and legitimacy. Similarly, community and labor leaders should proactively reach out to their members and partners early on. 

• Deliver meaningful results for communities. Consistent with principles like Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), especially for historically marginalized or Indigenous communities, communities must be able to ensure their demands are centered in the final result and also have the right to say no.

Local governments and community-based coalitions have successfully used CBAs to shape both public and private investments. The following examples demonstrate the importance of these CBA best practices. 

CBAs in Practice

Yankee Stadium CBA: A Cautionary Tale

Learn about this agreement and other examples of both effective and ineffective CBAs from Common Challenges in Negotiating CBAs – and – How to Avoid Them by PowerSwitch Action (formerly known as the Partnership for Working Families).

In 2006, New York City approved construction of a new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx despite strong community opposition. In response, the Yankees entered into a CBA with local elected officials to advance construction, but did not involve any community groups as signatories. While the agreement included some investments in the community, it lacked community representation, specificity, and effective accountability tools. For example, the agreement committed 25% of construction contracts to local businesses, but the Yankees refused to disclose the list of businesses or the contract amounts. So it was not clear how much of the $800 million construction budget actually employed local businesses. Furthermore, the agreement’s enforceability was questionable under contract law (due to lack of clear “consideration”), which called into question whether it even qualified as a CBA. The agreement was thus a CBA in name only; it undermined trust and left few tangible benefits for Bronx residents. Developers may promise community benefits to temporarily appease local opposition, generate some positive press, and secure project approval — but without enforceability, clear metrics, and meaningful community participation, the CBA was meaningless. 

New Flyer CBA: A Model for Strong Community & Labor Partnerships

Learn more about this example in the World Resources Institute’s analysis of the agreement here and read the full CBA framework here.

After several years of organizing, labor and community organizations brought the transit bus manufacturer New Flyer to the bargaining table. In 2022, JobstoMoveAmerica (JMA), community-based nonprofit Greater Birmingham Ministries (GBM), and New Flyer signed a CBA for facilities in Alabama. This CBA invested in workforce development and committed the company to hiring from historically disadvantaged groups. To ensure progress on these training and hiring goals, the agreement required quarterly meetings to report on agreed-upon metrics. Importantly, the CBA also included non-binding mediation and binding arbitration facilitated by a third party as enforcement mechanisms to address worker claims of discrimination or harassment. One key component of this CBA’s success was the collaboration among unions, community organizations, and New Flyer workers that began long before CBA negotiations. In 2021, these organizations partnered with Alabama A&M University to survey community members and New Flyer workers. This collaboration built trust among organizations that would later form the Alabama Coalition for Community Benefits, which participated in CBA negotiations and oversight and thus helped ensure community needs remained at the heart of the agreement. Thanks to the strength of the CBA and a separate labor peace agreement, New Flyer workers were later able to organize and secure a union contract in 2024 that improved wages, hours, and working conditions.

Turning Investment into Shared Benefit

Together, these examples demonstrate how applying CBA best practices distinguishes transformative agreements from symbolic ones. Projects that successfully deploy these best practices can build lasting trust and community impact, delivering measurable value for both developers and communities. Poorly structured and purely transactional CBAs, by contrast, risk deepening distrust and inequity. 

Every dollar of public and private investment can do more than build projects; strong CBAs can turn these investments into lasting community power, economic opportunity, and shared prosperity.

Resources to Develop CBAs

A wealth of resources can help community groups and local leaders develop strong CBAs and policies supporting community involvement. Below are key toolkits, guides, and case studies to dive deeper. 

Toolkits & Guides to the Basics

• PowerSwitchAction Policy Toolkit: Community Benefits Agreements. Overview, examples, and a framework for success for CBAs.

• PolicyLink CBA Toolkit. Overview, key considerations, and examples.

• Jobs to Move America (JMA) CBA Resource Center:

  • Factsheet: What is a CBA? Printable 1-page fact sheet explaining what a CBA is. 

  • Resource Library. Includes toolkits, best practices, case studies, and more.

• GoodJobsFirst Key Reforms: CBAs. Includes best practices and caveats for consideration.

• Blue Green Alliance CBAs that ABC: Using CBAs to Actually Benefit Communities. Checklist of CBA provisions that can improve the lives of workers, community members, and the environment.

Models & Case Studies

• PowerSwitch Action (formerly known as the Partnership for Working Families) & Community Benefits Law Center Common Challenges in Negotiating CBAs

  • Reviews pitfalls and lessons learned from successful and unsuccessful CBAs. 

• World Resources Institute & Data for Progress Database of Community Benefits Frameworks

  • Includes information about different types of community benefits frameworks (including CBAs, host community agreements, project workforce agreements, and community benefit plans).  

• Local Infrastructure HubHow and why CBAs can be incorporated into infrastructure projects

  • Examples of infrastructure projects that local governments have used CBAs for (including transit, building decarbonization, and public housing projects).

State and Local Policy Insights 

• Initiative for Energy Justice State Legislative Requirements for CBAs in Renewable Energy Projects

  • Overview of legislative approaches requiring CBAs or other community benefits for renewable energy projects in Michigan, California, Connecticut, Maine, Ohio, and New York.

• PowerSwitch Action (formerly known as the Partnership for Working Families)and Community Benefits Law Center Delivering Community Benefits through Economic Development: A Guide for Elected and Appointed Officials

  • Guidance for local officials to advance community benefits.

Clean Energy-Focused CBA Resources

• Berkeley Law Center for Law, Energy, & the Environment Community Benefits Tools and California Clean Energy Projects: Strategies for Project Design

  • Overview of policy drivers and tools to deliver community benefits informed by principles of energy justice and restorative justice.

• Columbia Law School Sabin Center for Climate Change Law Expert Insights on Best Practices for Community Benefits Agreements

  • 35 recommendations for developers and communities when negotiating and drafting CBAs for clean energy projects. 

Related Resources

• Bargaining for the Common Good Concrete Examples of Bargaining for the Common Good

  • Concrete examples of community demands that unions and community groups have bargained for across the country.  

• Emerald Cities Planning Committee andthe Building and Construction Trades Department (AFL-CIO) Community Workforce Agreements: The Pathway to Coalitions Between Labor and Community

  • Overview of CWAs and coalition strategies for labor and community groups.

• Accountability Framework Initiative Operational Guidance on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)

  • Guidance, requirements, and best practices for securing Free, Prior, and Informed Consent from Indigenous Peoples and local communities.