Project Labor Agreements Part II

06/01/22 • 13 min

On May 13, 2022, we released Part One related to President Biden’s Executive Order 14063 mandating Project Labor Agreements (“PLA”). Our Labor Law Insiders, Tom Godar, Rufino Gaytán and Michael Schrier, began to explore the requirement that contractors and sub-contractors on large federal construction contracts “negotiate or become party to a project labor agreement with one or more appropriate labor organizations.”

In Part Two of this discussion regarding the impact of the Executive Order, we explore how this requirement of PLAs for construction agreements greater than $35 million may indeed be another avenue that unions might use to organize construction employees. Our Insiders tackle the potential use of publicly available information mandated under the new PLA regulations, and how, in combination with wages dictated by the Davis-Bacon Act, unions might identify and target union-free employers for organizational activity. This disclosed information may be one more helpful piece of information for unions, courtesy of the Biden administration and its effort to be the most union-friendly administration ever.

The guests also explore when we might expect publication of the regulations, and how they might resemble or differ from those already in place under the current Obama-era PLA Executive Order. The Federal Acquisition Regulation Council may issue such new regulations as soon as June 4th of this year.

Importantly, attorneys Gaytán and Schrier will discuss possible legal challenges to these regulations, as well as cautions for those non-union entities who might seek the benefit of large government contracts and in so doing, become entangled in the PLA’s with various unions. For contractors inexperienced in such matters, engaging in PLA work may have hidden trap doors wholly apart from potential union entanglement for union-free companies.

We invite you to listen to this interesting presentation, not only for the specifics of the PLA impact, but to assess the breadth of impact that a seemingly simple expansion of regulations can have on both union and non-union federal contractors alike.

Previous Episode

Project Labor Agreements Part I

In part I of this series, Husch Blackwell's Labor Law Insider host Thomas Godar is joined by two experienced counsel regarding labor and employment law and federal contractor issues. Husch Blackwell Attorney Michael Schrier is co-Chair of the ABA Public Contract Law Section’s Employment Safety and Labor Committee, which is engaged in monitoring and potentially influencing regulations regarding federal government use of PLAs. Husch Blackwell Attorney Rufino Gaytán is often asked by clients to assist in assessing whether engagement in what are often high-ticket federal construction contracts and PLAs may have hidden trap doors, especially for those who are not frequent federal contractors. This episode of the Labor Law Insider Podcast explores the federal government’s expanded mandate for use of PLAs, and its potential for further encouraging unions to organize union-free companies which choose to participate in such projects.

Be sure to join us for for this and Part II for and interesting look into Project Labor Agreements and how they fit in to the overall pro-union strategy of the Biden administration.

Next Episode

NLRB Adopts Pro-Labor Remedies for Alleged Unfair Labor Practices, Part I

Husch Blackwell's Labor Law Insiders, Thomas Godar, Terry Potter, Rufino Gaytan and Adam Doerr, offer context to recent NLRB memoranda, including background to NLRB remedies, and contrast the historical reach of NLRB remedies to the broader approach urged by the Board’s General Counsel under her more expansive definition of “full remedies”. Further, the panelists take on the implications of the General Counsel’s pursuit of injunctive relief under Section 10(j) of the National Labor Relations Act, as a preventative tool rather than a remedial one.

The panel also addresses the non-economic remedies that more employers will find unpalatable, including those discussed in the most recent General Counsel memorandum. These include such remedies as letters of apologies to reinstated employees, and the creation of video recordings of a NLRB agent reading notices in the presence of senior charged party officials, among others.

The second part of this episode will further explore the options for reviewing and potentially resolving complaints, the incentive to defend against such ULP complaints through trial, and the steps to be undertaken to avoid, as far as can be possible, the threat of employees charging employers with unfair labor practices.