In recent years, most of the biggest building projects in Rhode Island have been done with the use of project labor agreements. The proliferation of PLAs on major construction projects mirrors a trend throughout the nation. The use of PLAs has also generated considerable controversy in the building industry, both nationally and in Rhode Island.
Project Labor Agreements are collective bargaining agreements setting the terms of employment on an entire construction project, negotiated between a construction project owner, developer and the labor unions. It is negotiated before any employees are hired, and becomes part of the bid specification that all winning contractors must follow.
PLAs typically guarantee uniform wages, work rules and benefits for all of the workers employed on a project. They also provide grievance procedures for settling disputes, and include no-strike and no-lockout provisions, and usually require that workers be hired through local union halls.
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“We’ve been doing project labor agreements in Rhode Island for 10 or 12 years, and in our opinion it works well for the customer, the contractor and the unions,” said Kenneth Aurecchia, business manager for Local 51, the union that represents plumbers in Rhode Island. “There’s cooperation between labor and management. Any problems get ironed out at monthly meetings. When you’ve got a PLA you’ve got a guarantee of no work stoppage, strike or lockout.”
By nature, the construction industry faces the challenge of maintaining a force of skilled workers in a highly variable labor market. Additionally, the construction industry remains particularly vulnerable to labor-management conflict, because of rivalries between union and nonunion workers, as well as among various craft unions themselves, according to industry analysts.
PLAs are seen as a way to ensure that major construction projects proceed without work stoppage, budget overruns or other problems. In Rhode Island, PLAs incorporating union requirements have been ardently pursued by construction unions facing increasing competition from nonunion contractors, said Gregory Mancini, executive director of RI 21st Century Labor Management Partnership, an organization that represents 17 construction trade unions in Rhode Island in negotiating project labor agreements.
Most of the biggest construction projects under way in Rhode Island are being done under project labor agreements: Amgen Pharmaceutical, owner of Immunex Corp. announced in August that it planned to build a $500 million manufacturing plant in West Greenwich. The new facility, which will be used to make the company’s blockbuster rheumatoid arthritis drug, Enbrel, will be built under a project labor agreement.
Other construction projects being built with PLAs include the Provincetown Waste Water Treatment Plant, the Providence Travelers Aid Building, the Narragansett Bay Overflow Project and the Johnston Power Plant.
And though the biggest project in the state, the relocation of Interstate 195, is not being done under a PLA, that may only be because such an agreement was blocked when President Bush issued an executive order barring PLAs from use in projects that involve federal dollars.
“The proof is in the pudding. The last two major projects in the state that used PLAs – TF Green Airport and the convocation center (at the University of Rhode Island) – came in on time and under budget. If that weren’t true, construction users wouldn’t continue to use PLAs. They provide value,” said Mancini.
Indeed, PLAs have been increasingly pursued by unions working on public projects since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld their legality under federal law in the Boston Harbor case of 1993. But not everyone agrees that PLAs are beneficial, and the use of PLAs has generated a string of high-level lawsuits and presidential executive orders.
“PLAs are expensive. They cost the taxpayers money,” said Robert J. Boisselle, president of the Rhode Island Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, a national association of contractors and construction professionals opposed to PLAs. “They have been shown in many states to add from 8 percent to 15 percent to the cost of a project, because they eliminate competition, and when you eliminate competition they drive prices up. Many taxpayers don’t know that. And many city councilors and state legislators, who make these decisions, aren’t aware of that either.”
In Rhode Island, PLAs have resulted in only a small percentage of blue collar workers who live in the state being allowed to find employment on major building projects, because many of the PLAs used in those projects required that only union workers be employed, said Boisselle. Only 18.4 percent of construction workers in Rhode Island are union workers, he said.
Several other projects completed with PLAs have been taken to court in Rhode
Island, including the Fleet Ice Skating Rink in Kennedy Plaza in Providence
and construction of the Marriott Courtyard, said Boisselle. In each case, the
court found that the PLAs violated Rhode Island purchasing and construction
bid rules, said Boisselle.
