Judge Orders Defense Department To Resume Using Project Labor Agreements
The U.S. Department of Defense must start using project labor agreements again, a federal judge has ordered.
A U.S. District Court judge in D.C. granted an injunction against DoD Secretary Pete Hegseth for not following a Biden-era mandate, which requires project labor agreements for federal construction projects costing $35M or more, Construction Dive reported.
The DoD issued a notice on Feb. 7 halting use of PLAs on large-scale construction projects.
“Contracting officers shall amend solicitations to remove project labor agreement requirements,” a DoD memo previously obtained by Construction Dive reads.
The May 16 ruling from Judge Rudolph Contreras comes after the North America’s Building Trades Unions and the Baltimore-D.C. Metro Building and Construction Trades Council sued to bring the DoD back into compliance in early April.
The ruling affects projects beyond those specifically related to the plaintiffs, meaning that all major federal construction projects should resume use of PLAs.
The decision drew praise from NABTU President Sean McGarvey, who said in a statement to Construction Dive that PLAs are “proven workforce development tools that undergird strong economic growth in communities across the country.”
PLAs determine terms and conditions for construction workers, whether they belong to unions or not, according to the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations. But PLAs have been opposed by other contractor groups, some of which criticized the judge’s ruling.
PLAs discourage competition by discriminating against non-unionized construction workers, which is 89.7% of the industry workforce, Associated Builders and Contractors Vice President of Government Affairs Kristen Swearingen said in a statement.
“Taxpayers lose when responsible, qualified contractors are effectively and unfairly excluded from bidding on contracts to build essential infrastructure,” she said. “All government-mandated PLAs should be entirely rescinded by the Trump administration to prioritize efficient use of taxpayer dollars on high-quality, safely built projects over steering contracts to special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.”
Rescinding the Biden-era executive order would reduce annual federal construction costs by up to $10B, the ABC has argued.
Even with the injunction, employers are still dealing with legal ambiguity over PLAs.
In January, U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Ryan Holte ruled that compliance with PLA requirements on seven Biden-era contracts would be anticompetitive. However, unlike Judge Contreras’ ruling, Holte’s decision only applies to the specific bid protests, Construction Dive reported.
Additionally, President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March rescinding a Biden-era order that prioritized federal spending for projects that benefit workers through collective bargaining agreements like PLAs. But Trump has yet to remove Biden’s order specifically requiring PLAs.
