The Truth About Project Labor Agreements

On March 7, a diverse group of 17 construction and business associations urged the U.S. Department of Commerce to ensure taxpayer investments in the semiconductor industry are not needlessly constrained by anti-competitive and inflationary project labor agreement schemes imposed through after-the-fact regulatory action by the Biden administration. According to the coalition letter, a project labor agreement preference […]

READ MORE

Associated Builders and Contractors and a broad coalition of construction industry stakeholders voiced its strong support for the Fair and Open Competition Act (H.R. 1209  / S. 537), which has been reintroduced in the 118th Congress by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., in the U.S. Senate, and Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., in the U.S. House of Representatives on Feb. 27. […]

READ MORE

According to the U.S. Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics’ annual Union Members Summary released Jan. 19, 2023, the percent of construction industry wage and salary workers belonging to unions dropped to a record low of 11.7%, a decline from 12.6% in 2021. Analysis of BLS data found that a historically high 88.3% of the […]

READ MORE

On October 19, 2022, Associated Builders and Contractors submitted more than 40 pages of comments to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council calling on the Biden administration to withdraw a controversial proposed rule that would require anti-competitive and inflationary project labor agreements on federal construction contracts of $35 million or more. ABC’s opposition is joined by more […]

READ MORE

According to a September 2022 survey of ABC contractor members published Step. 28, 2022, 98% oppose President Biden’s proposed rule mandating project labor agreements on federal construction projects of $35 million or more. PLA schemes needlessly increase costs and exacerbate the construction industry’s skilled labor shortage because they exclude almost nine out of 10 workers […]

READ MORE

An ABC-led coalition of 22 organizations and associations representing thousands of companies employing millions of workers in the construction industry submitted a comment letter, Oct, 13, 2022, in opposition to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s Aug. 19 proposed rule implementing President Biden’s Feb. 4 Executive Order 14063 requiring controversial and inflationary project labor agreements on federal construction contracts […]

READ MORE

Congress has been busy holding President Biden accountable for inflationary and controversial policies benefiting union donors following the Biden administration’s Feb. 4 release of Executive Order 14063 and the related Aug. 19 FAR Council proposed rule to require project labor agreements on federal construction contracts of $35 million or more. The communications from lawmakers also […]

READ MORE

ICYMI, here is the Aug. 18, 2022, statement, article and twitter thread from Associated Builders and Contractors in response to the publication of a proposed rule, Federal Acquisition Regulation: Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects, implementing President Biden’s Executive Order 14063, which requires federal construction contracts of $35 million or more to be subjected […]

READ MORE

The construction industry is projecting a historic shortage of 650,000 skilled workers in 2022. It is also facing serious supply chain disruptions, unprecedented materials cost inflation of 44% since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and declining investment in nonresidential structures. The Biden administration is aware of these problems that stand to undermine taxpayer investments in […]

READ MORE