The Truth About Project Labor Agreements

The Trump administration has an incredible opportunity to rebuild America’s infrastructure better and faster with a commonsense policy change expected to save taxpayers at least $10 billion annually on federal and federally assisted construction projects procured by local, state and federal governments, according to new analysis by Associated Builders and Contractors. By replacing inflationary Biden […]

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Massachusetts lawmakers have passed legislation giving local and state government stakeholders the green light to mandate anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded construction projects. The legislative maneuver follows a decision from a Massachusetts court that struck down a government-mandated PLA for violating state competitive bidding laws. On November 14, 2024, Massachusetts lawmakers approved […]

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In today’s hyper-partisan political environment, it’s rare for policy to die on its own merits when it is good for party politics. Think about how harmful government-mandated project labor agreements must be if prominent Democrats are thumbing their noses at these Biden-Harris policies and publicly resisting legislation that benefits their most prominent union donors.

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A new study on the effects of controversial government-mandated project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded affordable housing projects found that the total development costs of projects subject to PLAs were 21% more expensive, on average, than non-PLA projects. The study also found that the PLA projects took 27% longer to complete, on average, compared to similar […]

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Associated Builders and Contractors June 27, 2024, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, calling on Congress to pass the Fair and Open Competition Act (H.R. 1209/S. 537) and reject the Biden/Harris administration’s controversial policies pushing government-mandated project labor agreements for federal and federally assisted construction projects funded by […]

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This scathing May 28, 2024, Boston Globe editorial headline says it all, Project Labor Agreements are Bad Policy. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com couldn’t agree more. It’s one of dozens of editorials by major newspapers exposing these anti-competitive and costly schemes for what they really are. Check it out: It’s one of the most predictable of economic impulses. Facing […]

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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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