Posts tagged federal construction projects
Pritzker signs union protection bills amid Trump war on federal unions
August 19, 2025 // The signing comes after the Federal Emergency Management Agency joined at least three other federal agencies in canceling contracts with unions to comply with President Trump’s March executive order that stripped many federal workers of union protections.
PLA mandate to stay, with exemptions: OMB
June 17, 2025 // The Trump administration said Thursday that it supports the use of project labor agreements on federal construction projects when they are “practicable and cost effective.
Right to Work Foundation Submits Legal Brief Opposing Biden “Project Labor Agreement” Rule for Federal Construction Projects
June 5, 2025 // Amicus brief at Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals exposes rule as discriminating against nonunion workers and contractors in violation of Constitution
ABC: Victory for Taxpayers and Construction Industry as Court Rules Biden’s Project Labor Agreement Policy Is Illegal
January 21, 2025 // The Biden policy has been widely criticized by the construction industry, taxpayer watchdogs and lawmakers for needlessly inflating construction costs and effectively steering contracts to unionized firms and union labor at the expense of taxpayers and federal laws requiring fair and open competition. “ABC and its federal contractor members are ecstatic that the judicial system has delivered justice for American taxpayers and the 90% of the U.S. construction industry workforce that is nonunion,” said ABC Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “ABC members were harmed by former President Biden’s costly executive overreach, which violates federal laws and rewards special interests at the expense of fair and open competition.
Even Gavin Newsom opposes this Big Labor inflationary scheme
November 4, 2024 // Likewise, PLA opponents can cite multiple studies of hundreds of taxpayer-funded affordable housing and school construction projects, which found that government PLA mandates increase the cost of construction by 12% to 20% compared to similar non-PLA projects already subjected to union-friendly prevailing wage regulations. The latest study of affordable housing projects funded by Los Angeles Proposition HHH found that PLA projects were 21% more expensive and suffered delays 27% longer than non-PLA projects.
Percentage of Construction Industry Workers in a Union Continues to Decline
April 5, 2024 // According to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis, the percentage of construction workers who belong to a union dropped to a record low of 10.7 percent in 2023. This is the latest in a generational shift. Over the past 50 years, the percentage of unionized workers has decreased from 39.5 percent to the new low. Non-union construction employers should still be aware of unions and related labor law issues. We provide a few reasons here. First, the law that covers unionized employers in private industry, the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), applies with equal force to non-union employers. Non-union workers still have the NLRA’s protections to engage in protected, concerted activity in support of improved working conditions. That includes group activities that have nothing to do with bringing a union into the workplace.
Biden Labor Department offers new rule on “prevailing wages” that is less accurate
August 8, 2023 // “The Biden administration’s decision to turn back the clock on Davis-Bacon Act regulations to a Carter administration-era version will benefit a few well-connected unions while raising costs on taxpayers. The administration’s new rule will allow a survey of just a third of workers to calculate the ‘prevailing wages’ to be used when awarding federal contracts. It only takes a basic understanding of math to know that that 30 percent is not a majority and therefore cannot be said to be ‘prevailing’ in any common understanding of the term. Rather this new rule will allow for cherry-picked statistics that result in wage inflation, driving up the costs of those contracts.”
It’s a Gloomy Outlook for Jobs Under Biden. Here’s the Formula to Change That.
May 19, 2023 // For the sake of personal and societal happiness, for the sake of the financial well-being of American families, for the sake of solving America’s dire fiscal situation, and for the sake of preserving the foundation of American society, policymakers need to recognize the value and rewards of work. By protecting individuals’ rights to pursue the type of work and compensation that is best for them, expanding alternative education and job-training opportunities, and not forcing workers into unions, policymakers can expand opportunities for people to achieve meaningful and rewarding work. Work truly affects every aspect of American life. Our economy, our personal financial and physical well-being, our nation’s fiscal sustainability, and even our national security depend on it.
19 Republican governors oppose proposed Project Labor Agreement rule
October 31, 2022 // Nineteen Republican governors wrote a letter to President Joe Biden (D) on October 17, 2022, opposing a proposed federal rule to mandate the use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for federal construction projects. The letter was signed by governors from Arkansas, Alabama, Arizona, Georgia, Iowa, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. The proposed rule follows an executive order that was signed by Biden in February 2022 that aimed to require PLAs for large-scale construction projects. A group of Republican governors wrote a letter in April 2022 opposing the executive order, arguing that it granted a monopoly to unions and discouraged competition. The proposed rule would amend the Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) to implement the executive order and mandate the use of PLAs for federal construction contracts exceeding $35 million.