The Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of the Carolinas has issued a Union Watch Alert in response to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) survey soliciting comments on the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) within the Wilmington District and surrounding area under the NC/VA General Construction MATOC.
“ABC is leading the fight against government-mandated project labor agreements in federal contracting. PLAs reduce competition, increase costs, and impede the economy and efficiency of government contracting” said Chris Bullard, director of government affairs for ABC.
The USACE and other federal agencies have issued more than 260 similar project labor agreement surveys requesting information about the potential use of PLAs on specific construction projects across the country as a result of regulations and federal agency policies stemming from President Obama’s pro-government-mandated PLA Executive Order 13502, which encourages federal agencies to mandate PLAs on a case-by-case basis for federal construction projects exceeding $25 million in total cost.
TheTruthAboutPLAs.com has taken the opportunity to respond to all PLA surveys as they are issued and encourages the merit shop contracting community to do the same.
“Responding with accurate and timely information is critical and effective at creating more work for qualified merit shop contractors and their skilled employees,” the ABC Carolinas statement said. “Due to our collective advocacy, none of these projects have had PLAs mandated on them.”