Workforce
NABTU Secures Injunction in Federal Court to Uphold Biden-era PLA Mandate for Federal Projects
Contractor lobbyists press President Trump to issue executive order ending project labor agreement requirement
GSA's San Ysidro, Calif., Land Port of Entry finished a $741-million, three-phase expansion and renovation project in 2019, managed by the design-build team of Stantec and Hensel Phelps. It involved a complete reconstruction of port pedestrian and bus inspection facilities.
Photo courtesy U.S. General Services Administration
North America's Building Trades Unions won a preliminary injunction May 16 in federal court against the U.S. Dept. of Defense, U.S. Dept. of Veterans Affairs and U.S. General Services Administration, which had all ordered earlier this year that project labor agreement language be removed from their new contracts for large projects.
Judge Rudolph Contreras of the Washington, D.C., appeals court wrote that the union group was "simply seeking to preserve the status quo as defined by a duly issued Executive Order [EO 140630 signed in 2022 by then-President Joe Biden] until the legality of the new memoranda is fully adjudicated" and granted the injunction.
The agencies had issued memorandums earlier this year instructing contractors not to include PLA language in new contracts.
"North America’s Building Trades Unions applaud the U.S. District for the District of Columbia’s decision striking down the Dept. of Defense and GSA’s illegal attempt to ignore the Project Labor Agreement Executive Order. This ruling restores the requirement that all large federal construction projects include Project Labor Agreements—a critical win for workers, taxpayers and national security," said Sean McGarvey, NABTU president, in a statement. The pacts between craftworkers and contractors set wage rates and work rules ahead of time and typically involve preconditions from labor organizations involved to avoid strikes and lockouts.
While subcontractors and contractors were not required to participate in any collective bargaining to work on a project with a PLA, critics have said that the agreements can favor union workers over nonunion workers, and can lead to higher construction costs.
The ruling drew a strong rebuke from industry groups that represent contractors in Washington. The Associated Builders and Contractors, which represents mostly merit shop contractors, "respectfully disagrees with the court’s reinstatement of illegal and costly project labor agreement mandates on a wide range of federal construction projects critical to America’s national security,” Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of government affairs said in a statement. “Instead, all government-mandated PLAs should be entirely rescinded by the Trump administration to prioritize efficient use of taxpayer dollars on high-quality, safely built projects over steering contracts to special interests."
The Associated General Contractors of America, which successfully challenged the Biden administration PLA mandate in the federal court of claims on a small number of federal projects via bid protests, also urged a new executive order issued to rescind the Biden-era mandate.
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"The ruling in this case clearly demonstrates the need for the Trump administration to revoke former President Biden’s unlawful—as the courts have ruled—executive order imposing government-mandated project labor agreements on most federal construction projects. Leaving the measure on the books while having most agencies announce they won’t follow it is clearly not a viable approach," said Brian Turmail, AGC vice president, public affairs and workforce.
ABC is challenging the mandate in a separate federal district court case in Florida. It agreed that a new executive order would be necessary to overturn it, barring a quick ruling from another court.
