Project Labor Agreements Work for Workers and Communities
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For more than 70 years, project labor agreements (PLAs) benefited communities, employers and workers by ensuring fair wages and benefits and on-time completion of local, state and federal construction projects. PLAs, also known as Community Workforce Agreements, generally set wages and establish work rules and methods of settling grievances on large multi-contractor construction projects
But in one of his first acts as president, George W. Bush issued an executive order in 2001 banning the use of PLAs on federal projects.
This past February, President Barack Obama reversed the Bush order and restored the use of PLAs. His action sent anti-worker construction groups and companies into a tizzy, with the latest battle centering on a $30 million Job Corps Center in Manchester, N.H.
Project Labor Agreements Benefit Communities, Contractors and Workers
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A new study finds that project labor agreements (PLAs) “make sense for public works projects” and debunks attacks by anti-union groups and contractors on such agreements, which set wages, benefits and working conditions on large multicontractor and multi-union public construction projects.
The study by the Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, “Project Labor Agreements in New York State: In the Public Interest,” details what PLAs do, how they have been used and the benefits they offer—benefits that extend to workforce and economic development.
PLAs have been demonstrated to be a very useful construction management tool for cost savings, for on-time, on-budget, and quality construction. PLAs make sense for public works projects because they promote a planned approach to labor relations, allow contractors to more accurately predict labor costs and schedule production timetables, reduce the risks of shoddy work and costly disruptions, and encourage greater efficiency and productivity.
Obama’s First 100 Days Mark Major Wins for Working Families
It’s worth repeating—again and again: What a difference an election makes, especially an election in which working family voters pool their strength and efforts to put an end to the most anti-worker, corporate-beholden administration in modern times and elect a president who shares our values and dreams.
Today is the 100th day of Barack Obama’s presidency. In the past three months, Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and the Democratic Congress—operating with a Republican axe hanging over it—have made major strides to rebuild America for working families.
Obama Overturns Bush Exec. Order on Project Labor Agreements
The men and women in the nation’s building and construction trades won a major victory today when President Obama signed an executive order overturning the Bush administration’s ban on project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal and federally funded construction.
The ban was one of the first orders signed by former President George W. Bush when he took office in 2001. Mark H. Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), praised Obama’s action, saying:
The Bush anti-PLA executive order was exactly the type of special interest-driven politics and policy that American voters rejected overwhelmingly last November.
We acknowledge and praise this executive order as being one of the first steps in ushering in a new, more pragmatic and value-conscious approach to governing.
