'Smooth Out Labor Contracts And Costs': Gerry Connolly Touts New Project Labor Agreement Rules

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During a House Oversight Committee hearing prior to the Congressional recess, Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA) questioned witnesses about the Biden Administration's new project labor agreement rules.

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00:00and his company, Chanborough, belonged to the Associated General Contractors of America,

00:05which actually filed a lawsuit to try to prevent this new rule from coming into effect.

00:14The judge presiding dismissed the case. He was appointed by none other than Donald J.

00:20Trump. And let me read what he said. None of the individual plaintiffs can specify what

00:27those projects are that might be harmed, where they'd take place, or the basis for

00:31their certainty, which we've heard here today, that such projects will require a PLA. Furthermore,

00:37the individual plaintiffs' declarations are belied by their histories of actual federal

00:43contracting practices. And without such a showing, he said, there is no basis to believe

00:50the PLA rule would impact their businesses. That's the ruling of the judge under a lawsuit

00:58brought by that group, including well, your company, Mr. Dreher, is a member of that group.

01:06Mr. Snyder, you heard the gentleman next to you say, with this rule in place, we're going

01:12to be prevented from actually bidding on federal work, and we've got a long history of doing

01:17just that. Then I heard your testimony, and you gave a long list of federal work you've

01:22done, and you've done it with PLAs. Why how come you can make it work and others apparently

01:29speculate they can't?

01:33I certainly can't speak for any other business, but we have found through the process of doing

01:38this that there is a step that goes into this collective process of finding out what works

01:43best for the project and working with partners that are going to be representing employees

01:49in the workforce to come in and weigh in on what those issues are that are going to make

01:55that successful. I'm not sure why it would be more difficult for someone else to go and

01:59do the exact same thing. There are thousands of other employers that do what we do. I just

02:04happen to be the one sitting here talking with you today.

02:08So I think the numbers of cost and schedule and the ability to staff projects speak for

02:15itself.

02:16And just to be clear about your testimony here today, it's your testimony that your

02:22company, going back to 1901, has in fact used PLAs as an effective tool successfully, and

02:29you have found it to be a felicitous relationship facilitating business. Is that accurate?

02:35Sure. We compete on a daily basis with open shop contractors. That doesn't prevent us

02:42from bidding. We compete in right-to-work States and work in them every day. It is our

02:47preferred method of performing work. We have found it to be the most efficient and cost-effective

02:51way to do work.

02:52And are you aware, in fact, of the OMB letter, for the record, with respect to the implementation

02:59of this, that says makes clear that union and nonunion workers will be considered for

03:05and work on Federal PLA projects?

03:07That's correct. Our understanding is that the Federal Government cannot exclude nonunion

03:12workers from participation in the process. In fact, they are prohibited from doing so.

03:18I ask unanimous consent to enter that letter into the record.

03:24Without objection.

03:25And is it further your testimony, if I heard you correctly, independent of your own company,

03:31though your experience would mirror this, that there is actually compiled data empirically

03:37demonstrating that PLA projects actually tend to come in lower in the cost estimate than

03:46non-PLA projects in terms of labor especially? Is that correct?

03:50There are studies that indicate that. And the broadest, most widely recognized study

03:56was not specific to project labor agreements but collective bargaining agreements in general.

04:02And that was commissioned by the Mechanical Contractors Association through IPA.

04:06So not just your company, but industrywide, that's what they found?

04:10That's correct.

04:11And would you say that PLAs, in your experience, tend to smooth out both labor contracts and

04:22costs and come in in a better time frame? Certainly that was my experience. I mean,

04:30I literally had the experience of the Silver Line. It was bifurcated. We had Phase I. We

04:34had Phase II. Phase I was a PLA project, and it came in pretty much on budget and on time.

04:40Phase II was horribly delayed by years with lots of cost overruns. And it was a deliberate

04:46political decision, not an economic decision, to do that in Phase II because we had a change

04:52in the governorship in Richmond, Virginia.

04:56Your comment.

04:58My experience, and from the IPA study, projects that are short on skilled labor are twice

05:02as likely to have 10 percent or higher cost overrun and more likely to have schedule slip

05:07of 25 percent or more.

05:08Thank you.

05:09Madam Chair, I would ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the U.S. District

05:15Court ruling from the Western District of Louisiana, to which I made reference earlier.

05:19Without objection.

05:20I thank the Chair.

05:21And, finally, I would ask unanimous consent to enter into the record the letter from the

05:25Association of Union Constructors and more than 1,700 members in support of project labor

05:32agreements.

05:33Without objection.

05:34I thank the Chair.

05:35And I yield back.

'Smooth Out Labor Contracts And Costs': Gerry Connolly Touts New Project Labor Agreement Rules

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