AFL-CIO Now, May 28, 2009, Thursday

AFL-CIO Now

May 28, 2009, Thursday

AFL-CIO Now

Project Labor Agreements Benefit Communities, Contractors and Workers

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.

Project owners, contractors, workers and their unions all receive benefits from PLAs because they offer

a unique opportunity to anticipate and avoid potential problems that might otherwise arise and possibly impede project progress. They maximize project stability, efficiency and productivity and minimize the risks and inconvenience to the public that often accompany public works projects.

Opponents of PLAs claim the agreements drive up a project’s costs and limit the number of contractors who bid on the projects. Not so, says the Cornell study:

While there are many reasons why contractors—both union and non-union—may choose not to bid on particular projects, there are no studies demonstrating that a PLA in the bid specifications is itself responsible for a decrease in the number or bidders; there is also no analysis showing that fewer bidders translate into higher actual project costs.

But there is a reason why some nonunion contractors will choose not to bid on PLAs, says the study. It’s a reason that “gets to the core of the issue and that PLA opponents might prefer not to publicize:

They do not want to operate within or adjacent to the unionized sector.

Non-union contractors may see PLA work as a threat to their workforce control so they choose to avoid having their employees work side-by-side with unionized craft workers and under prevailing wage and collectively bargained terms and conditions.

As Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), said earlier this year during a PLA dispute in San Diego, opponents fear they

could actually be forced to pay workers decent wages and benefits on publicly-funded construction projects.