Informing Policy
An ILR report by Fred Kotler has made its way to a White House-based policy discussion.
Project Labor Agreements in New York State: In the Public Interest is getting particular notice because the timing was fortunate, said Kotler, associate director of ILR’s Construction Industry Program.
It was published in March, a month after President Barack Obama issued an executive order encouraging the use of public labor agreements on federally-funded construction projects of $25 million or more.
A project labor agreement, also known as a public labor agreement or as a PLA, is a uniform labor agreement that covers all crafts on a project and lasts only as long as a project, Kotler said.
A PLA is especially appropriate for large, complex and lengthy infrastructure construction projects, he said.
Distribution of federal stimulus money in recent months contributes to the report’s timeliness, Kotler said.
"With stimulus money now entering the pipeline, I'm hoping the report serves as a guide for decision makers and policymakers at all levels of government who must now decide how best to use public money," he said.
Earlier this month, Kotler learned a copy of his 32-page report was being read at the highest level of government when he received an email from a federal Office of Management and Budget staffer who is part of a White House team reviewing PLA law, policies and practices.
By standardizing works schedules, hours, pay arrangements and other terms for all crafts on the job, PLAs maximize project stability, efficiency and productivity and provide greater cost efficiencies, according to the report.
A PLA also allows project planners greater flexibility in scheduling to minimize a project's inconvenience or disruption of services to the public, said the report, available at http://digitalcommons.ilr.cornell.edu/reports/22/.
Without such an agreement, there can be 15 or more different collective bargaining agreements at a work site and that can disrupt production and cause costly delays, the report said.
Before President George W. Bush's administration, PLAs were used on federally-funded projects for 60 years on projects such as the Kennedy Space Center, Grand Coulee Dam, Trans Alaska Pipeline and Boston Harbor clean-up.
A PLA is now being used, as the report details, as part of the $13 billion school reconstruction project in New York City.
New York governors have backed the use of the agreements for Empire State-funded projects since 1997, Kotler said.
Circulated by labor and construction management firms throughout the nation, the Cornell ILR report will be published this summer by the New York State Bar Association, Kotler said.