The Truth About Project Labor Agreements

ABC’s Massachusetts chapter and a coalition of local merit shop contractors successfully blocked the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission’s scheme for a project labor agreement mandate on a $325 million water filtration plant. “Notwithstanding the lip service the PLA pays to being open to all bidders, it most assuredly is not,” wrote Hampden Superior Court […]

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On May 7, 2024, the D.C. Council approved controversial legislation, the Revised Labor Agreement Cost Threshold Amendment Act of 2024. Bill 25-469 lowers the cost threshold from $75 million to $50 million for the required use of inflationary and anti-competitive project labor agreements on construction contracts procured by the District of Columbia. D.C. Council Chairman […]

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The construction industry is projecting a shortage of more than half a million skilled workers in 2024. It is also facing materials cost inflation of more than 41% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, continued supply chain disruptions and uncertainty caused by a series of controversial Biden administration regulations harming the construction industry and […]

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On April 26, Associated Builders and Contractors and its Florida First Coast chapter filed a motion for preliminary injunction as part of its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville in response to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s Dec. 22, 2023, final rule—and the related Dec. 18, 2023, […]

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A powerful Black History Month op-ed by the African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey CEO John Harmon makes the connection between New Jersey’s project labor agreement policy and discrimination against minority businesses and workers.  It’s a common complaint against PLA schemes echoed by the National Black Chamber of Commerce and other stakeholders. Check […]

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According to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ 2023 Union Members Summary released Jan. 23, 2024, a historic low of 10.7% of the construction industry belongs to a union, a decline from 11.7% in 2022. BLS reports that 7.9 million construction workers were not members of a union in […]

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ABC released the following statement yesterday in response to President Biden’s inflationary and anti-competitive project labor agreement final rule on large-scale federal construction projects. The final rule is expected to be published in the federal register this week. Taxpayer and industry stakeholders are encouraged to write their members of Congress through this ABC grassroots campaign […]

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Since President Joe Biden signed Executive Order 14063, Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, on Feb. 4, 2022, mandating inflationary and anti-competitive project labor agreements on federal construction projects of $35 million or more, numerous lawmakers and taxpayer and construction industry groups have renewed fierce opposition to the Biden administration’s push for […]

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On Sept. 7, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s final rule on the Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, which would mandate anti-competitive and inflationary project labor agreements on large-scale federal construction contracts, arrived at the Office of Management and Budget’s Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs for review. This is the final step before […]

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