The Truth About Project Labor Agreements

At this week’s Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO Legislative Conference, U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis said something mystifying.  She actually said that she supports a mechanism designed to keep the 84 percent of the private construction workforce from laboring construction projects, especially those workers who happen to be a woman or member of a minority community.  Don’t believe us?  Here is the proof from the 5/19 edition of the BNA Daily Labor Report (Subscription-only):

Solis endorsed the use of project labor agreements, which she called “a win-win: good for workers and for contractors.”

Unfortunately, Secretary Solis doesn’t seem to understand PLAs are not a “win-win” for the contractors who are locked out of PLA projects or their employees, who represent a vast majority of U.S. construction workers.  PLAs are also not “win-win” for the taxpayers forced to pay 20 percent more for public construction when a PLA is utilized or the women and minorities that PLAs exclude from projects in their own communities.

PLAs are only a victory for her May 18 Big Labor audience.