The Truth About Project Labor Agreements

Associated Builders and Contractors applauded the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability’s July 12 passage of the Fair and Open Competition Act, H.R. 1209. FOCA would protect federal and federally assisted construction contracts from anti-competitive and inflationary government-mandated project labor agreements and allow merit shop contractors and their skilled employees to have a fair […]

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The construction industry is projecting a historic shortage of more than half a million skilled workers in 2023. It is also facing serious supply chain disruptions unprecedented materials cost inflation of 39% since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and uncertainty caused by a tsunami of Biden administration regulations impacting the construction industry. The Biden administration […]

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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 business groups have renewed fierce opposition to the Biden administration’s push for government-mandated […]

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On April 4, the Appellate Division of the New Jersey Superior Court ruled (pdf) that a commission authorized by New Jersey and Pennsylvania law to build and maintain Delaware River bridges lacked the authority to require controversial project labor agreements. At issue were a contractor’s allegations that the Delaware Joint Toll Bridge Commission violated its […]

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TheTruthAboutPLAs.com previously reported that more than 88% of the U.S. construction industry workforce does not belong to a union. Government data collected and published by UnionStats.com provides this information for each state’s construction industry workforce. How does your state rank? In More Than Half of U.S. States, at Least 90% of the Construction Workforce Does […]

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Associated Builders and Contractors praised the Wyoming legislature and Gov. Mark Gordon for enacting SF 147, the Fair and Open Competition Act, which protects Wyoming taxpayers by ensuring all of the state’s skilled construction workforce can compete on a level playing field for contracts to build state, state-assisted and local public works projects. Once in […]

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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 […]

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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. […]

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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 […]

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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 […]

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