Bill to outlaw PLA's introduced
Legislation that will outlaw union Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on public works projects has been introduced in both houses of the state legislature.

The Bills, co-sponsored by Republican State Representatives Carol Owens of Oshkosh and Glenn Grothman of West Bend, and State Senator Robert Welch of Redgranite, would prohibit a public owner or the public project's construction manager from entering into union project agreements that require other-wise non-union firms to sign the agreement as a condition of work.

Bill Johnson

Proponents of the bill say PLAs "lock-out" non-union firms from bidding and winning work on the project, effectively making the project less competitive and more costly to complete.
The bill is in response to work being performed under a PLA at Miller Park in Milwaukee, which the authors" contend have excluded non-union contractors from bidding and winning work on the project.

"That simply is not true," according to Laborers' Local #113 Business Manager Bill Johnson.

Referring to a section of the PLA that expressly exempts a number of disadvantaged, typically non-union, businesses from the agreement, Johnson said, "The fact is non-union contractors are bidding and winning work at the Park, and it was the PLA that made it possible."

Johnson, who was one of eighteen building trades representatives who helped negotiate and sign the agreement at Miller Park, saw the PLA at Miller Park as an important step in insuring the project was completed on time and under budget.

"The Miller Park Joint Venture did not sign this agreement to drive costs up," Johnson said. "They signed it to keep costs down."

The PLA at Miller Park is similar to PLAs that have been signed to govern work in the private sector.

For example, it recognizes the fact that in the Milwaukee area, union building trades control the market and utilizes union hiring and referral halls as a means to ensure adequate craft coverage over the life of the project.

The agreement contains language that clearly defines procedures governing drug and alcohol testing, hiring, grievance, and other jurisdictional issues that might otherwise impede work at the site.

The agreement also contains no-strike and no-lock-out language, to further ensure that there are no work stoppages or slow downs during the life of the project.

Like private sector PLAs, the PLA at Miller Park covers issues not ordinarily contained in labor agreements.

For example, it exempts contracts of $750,000 or less performed by classified disadvantaged businesses in order to increase participation of these firms on the project. It also allows referrals through a number of non-profit community based organizations, to increase the number of minority and women workers represented on the project.

While even opponents of PLAs see the value of continuing these types of programs, it is unclear, given low-bid requirements on public projects and the union share of the industry, how these programs could have been possible without a PLA.

Perhaps one of the greatest ironies of the proposal to outlaw PLAs is the implication that PLAs somehow violate the free market and give union contractors a leg-up on their non-union competition.
Day-in and day-out contractors and project managers in Wisconsin and across the country, enter into PLAs in the private sector.

Given the competitive nature of the construction industry, and the fact union contractors must compete in the private sector, it is fair to say that these agreements are entered into in an effort to make signatory contractors more competitive, not less.

Under certain circumstances, PLAs appear to make good economic sense. With taxpayers placing more and more pressure on government to control costs and spend less, public owners across the country are turning to PLAs to further insure the project gets completed on time and under budget.

In fact, PLAs have become standards for public works projects under Republican Governors Edgar in Illinois, Whitman in New Jersey and Petaki in New York, each of whom have signed executive orders or bills into law that direct state agencies to work under PLAs when the economic circumstances allow.

With PLAs making more and more economic sense to public owners concerned about total project costs and completing projects on time, it would be a mistake to simply prohibit their use in Wisconsin.

In those circumstance when PLAs make sound economic sense, a public owner should have the same right as a private owner to enter into these agreements.

Taxpayers expect and deserve nothing less.

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