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Construction Project Labor Agreements
By Will Gray
The Project Labor Agreement (PLA) is a project specific collective
bargaining agreement between all the parties involved for the life of a
construction project. The main purpose of the PLA is to create labor
harmony on projects that involve several companies, union locals and specialized
skills. The companies who bid on the project and the local unions agree
to work under one agreement that typically forbids union work stoppage
and company lockouts. The PLA also has clauses dictating grievance and
arbitration procedures. PLAs are basically collective bargaining
agreements between unions, however, merit shop contractors are not always
excluded. It is illegal for most publicly funded projects to
discriminate on the basis of union affiliations.
PLAs are considered union only or union friendly because they contain
provisions typically included in union labor agreements. They may
contain some requirements that merit shop companies would never dream of
but the rules must apply equally to all participants. PLAs do, however,
benefit union shops by leveling the playing field in the bid process.
Conversely, open shop companies routinely bid on and win contracts for
projects managed under the provisions of a PLA.
The National Right to Work Committee and the Associated Builders and
Contractors (ABC) oppose Project Labor Agreements, because They
recognize unions as the representatives of their employees on that job.
They must obtain their workers through the union hiring halls. They must
pay union wages and obey union work rules. They are also subject to
union job classifications and arbitration procedures. Unions do not
recognize the popular merit shop practice of using semi-skilled helpers.
Anassociation of merit shop contractors, the ABC, has made outlawing PLAs
one of their top priorities. For the past several years, the ABC has
been on a crusade challenging PLAs in the courts and in public relations
campaigns.
Some PLAs in the private sector have been friendlier to open shop
contractors. Recent PLAs at Toyota plants have allowed non-union
contractors to bring core employees on the site without having to go
through local union hiring halls.
The financial benefits of the PLA are somewhat dubious. It all depends
on whom you listen to. PLA advocates cite reduced cost of construction
projects but their comparisons are with non-PLA union projects.
Opponents compare the cost of PLA projects to merit shop projects.
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