The Connecticut Port Authority is undertaking a big project to spur much-needed economic development in eastern Connecticut. We applaud Gov. Ned Lamont's decision to include a Project Labor Agreement in the contract for construction of the State Pier in New London. This is a complex, large-scale project that requires a highly skilled local workforce.

PLAs are often used on complicated projects that require the services of multiple contractors and subcontractors over a sustained period of time. They are a common procurement method for the state of Connecticut, municipalities, and private developers. The City of New London is currently building several schools using PLAs.

Recently, the opponents of Project Labor Agreements went before the Contracting Standards Board to erroneously sound alarms over the state’s lawful, responsible, and precented use of PLAs. It’s important to note that neither these opponents, nor any of their representatives, have ever sat at the negotiating table with me. They don’t know the process of writing the terms of a PLA because they’ve never done it. Their claims are hearsay.

Under a PLA, all contractors are required to abide by collective bargaining agreements to meet the needs of a specific project. Those agreements dictate wages and benefits, like health insurance and retirement plans. Other important aspects might include provisions for utilizing apprentices, local hiring goals, set-aside goals for minority and women-owned businesses, and a commitment to utilize returning veterans through programs like “Helmets to Hardhats.”

In short, PLAs ensure municipalities can guarantee their resident tradesmen and tradeswomen are given career opportunities and not just a short-term job.

The opponents have cried foul over the inclusion of a PLA because they don’t want to pay into health insurance or training funds. A 2019 report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics found that union members are more likely to be covered by health insurance than nonunion workers.

Opponents further argue that PLAs raise the cost of construction. Yet academic studies by UCLA, Cornell, and other leading institutions have consistently concluded that there is simply no evidence to back up this claim. The University of California Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education published a study in 2017 which found that PLA projects do not reduce the number of bidders, nor do they increase project costs.

If PLAs raised the cost of construction, then profit-oriented corporations wouldn’t consistently use them. General Dynamics Electric Boat signed a PLA for the $850 million expansion of their South Yard Assembly Building in Groton, the Competitive Power Ventures Towantic Energy Center signed a PLA for the $1 billion Oxford Power Plant, and Ørsted signed a significant PLA for building their offshore wind turbines along the East Coast.

While we welcome robust debates on how best to attract businesses and good-paying jobs to Connecticut, we expect those with opposing views to be honest brokers. The naysayers are grasping at straws, trying to undermine the use of a common and beneficial procurement method that protects workers’ rights and municipalities. Those who don’t like PLAs rally against them because they don’t want to have to provide good wages and benefits or proficient training to workers. And they know they could never reach the local hiring goals mandated in a PLA.

The State Pier redevelopment project will support the infrastructure needed for offshore wind projects and a variety of mixed cargoes that were previously impossible for the facility to handle. Fortunately, construction of both the upgraded State Pier and Revolution Wind will be built with a PLA, ensuring the hiring of Connecticut’s workforce and that our local workforce has good labor protections for them and their families. 

Keith Brothers is business manager of the Connecticut Laborers District Council and president of the Norwich-New London Building Trades Council.