Project Labor Agreements

A project labor agreement (PLA) is a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement with one or more labor organizations establishing terms and conditions of employment for a specific construction project. Project labor agreements often prevent problems from developing because they provide structure and stability to large-scale construction projects. Such agreements avoid labor-related disruptions on projects by using dispute-resolution processes to resolve worksite disputes and by prohibiting work stoppages, including strikes and lockouts. They secure the commitment of all stakeholders on a construction site that the project will proceed efficiently without unnecessary interruptions. They also advance the interests of project owners, contractors, and subcontractors, including small businesses. For these reasons, owners and contractors in the public and private sectors routinely use project labor agreements, thereby reducing uncertainties in large-scale construction projects. The use of project labor agreements is entirely consistent with promoting small business interests. As a condition of being awarded a contract, the contractor must sign the negotiated PLA with the relevant union organizations.

About Project Labor Agreements

PLAs are most often used in the private sector, where corporate budget and scheduling decisions are:

PLAs are valued by experienced and cost-conscious owners and construction contractors in the private sector, large and small, pro-union and non-union. This has been true in the private sector for over 100 years. Private and public-sector PLAs offer a valued and systematic process for methodical planning and scheduling. Adhering to these guidelines promotes cost-effective construction projects that allow for more accurate bidding and lower costs. Simply put, PLAs work for countless major private project owners and should be leveraged as much as possible in the federal infrastructure sector.

Public sector PLAs do not discriminate against nonunion construction contractors or workers

In the private sector, owners are free to select union-only PLAs to build their projects, taking advantage of more skilled workers as an economic benefit. However, once a PLA has been negotiated on a public project, union and non-union contractors are free to bid on the work as they do with other construction projects. Negotiated government PLAs allow nonunion firms to bring their top employees without discrimination. Federal PLAs are open to all bidders, as PLA opponents know. To claim that federal PLAs are union-only is simply and knowingly false.

PLAs help local communities boost registered apprenticeship programs and the skilled labor workforce

PLAs benefit the local community by guaranteeing skill training and work opportunities to the local workforce on each complex public construction project. The hiring hall process, which cannot discriminate against the nonunion worker, creates the benefit of project security screening, an important government priority for all federal government projects, especially defense, homeland security, and other federal infrastructure facilities.

Webinars

• Project Labor Agreements on Federal and Federally-Assisted Construction Projects Webinar 
• Project Labor Agreements on Federal and Federally-Assisted Construction Projects Presentation 
• Overview of Project Labor Agreements – Basics

Comments

Review specific comments on Project Labor Agreements:

• Joint Comments of the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors' National Association (SMACNA) in Support of the Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects
• Public Comments on FAR Case 2022-003 / RIN 9000-AO40 – FAR: Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Construction Projects