Wilkes-Barre Area blasted for union mandate on Mackin renovation

WILKES-BARRE — An organization representing 450 companies is criticizing the Wilkes-Barre Area School Board’s decision to undergo the Mackin School renovation under terms of a district “Project Labor Agreement” (PLA) that requires contractors working on the school to hire some union members.

Dubbing it a “discriminatory union-only” requirement, the Associated Builders & Contractors Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter contends such PLAs increase costs of a project 20 to 30 percent.

School Board Solicitor Ray Wendolowski disputed that claim, noting state law requires the district to pay “prevailing rates,” which should mean workers will get paid the same whether they are union or not.

Wendolowski said the PLA does not bar a non-union company from bidding on a job or getting the contract, though it does require them to have “a certain percentage of union workers” in the mix when fulfilling the contract. The agreement, he added, has been in place for years and used in previous construction projects.

Mary Tebeau, president and CEO of the association criticizing the PLA, said Wendolowski is technically right but that, in reality, such agreements stifle competition and drive up costs.

“He is absolutely correct, however that logic doesn’t work,” Tebeau said. For starters, a company that has 70 or 80 non-union tradesman won’t bid on a job that requires the owner to essentially tell employees that, yes the company got the contract, but no, not all of the jobs from the contract will go to company employees.

The prevailing wage argument also doesn’t hold up in real life because the non union company has to pay money toward a union worker’s benefits when abiding by a PLA, money that would otherwise go toward the company’s own employees, Tebeau said.

The PLA creates a strong incentive for non-union companies to bypass the bidding on a project, she said, meaning a much smaller group of union companies will submit bids. The less competition, the more likely the price goes up, she argued.

Wendolowski said the rationale for a PLA is often to increase assurance that a bidding company has at least some workers who have gone through the training and apprenticeships required by a union, but Tebeau said not all union employees have done that, and some non-union employees have. A PLA can also avoid union versus non-union disputes on a job, he added.

The Mackin project, updating a building that has been closed since 2002, is estimated to cost between $5 million and $7 million. Tebeau said the majority of businesses — 80 percent or more — that could bid on the project are likely non-union.

Source: TimesLeader