The president signed an executive order in February requiring project labor agreements (PLAs) on construction projects that receive federal money and cost more than $35 million. PLAs establish wages, employment conditions, and dispute-resolution processes. The agreements help level the playing field for law-abiding contractors who hire skilled, local workers and provide fair pay and benefits.

The federal PLA requirement applies to millwright work involved in construction, maintenance, and upgrades of nuclear sites, airports, and water infrastructure.

Based on 2021 figures, the order is expected to improve job quality for 200,000 workers and affect $262 billion in federal government projects. Having a PLA requirement during the next decade is especially important because it ensures projects funded by the $1 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will be built by ethical contractors who are committed to high standards of quality, to creating good jobs, and to strengthening America’s skilled workforce by employing apprentices.

Thanks to the PLA executive order, the SSMRC's business partners are less likely to be at a disadvantage when bidding on federally funded projects since PLAs reduce the chances they'll be competing against companies that lower labor costs by misclassifying workers, paying them off the books, or failing to compensate them fairly.

But governors of nine states in the SSMRC’s 11-state jurisdiction wrote a letter to the federal government in April demanding that the PLA provision be eliminated. Working in concert with low-wage, anti-union employers, the governors of Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Texas are standing against fair wages and benefits.

If you live in one of these states, please take a minute to send a letter to your state legislators telling them why project labor agreements are good for law-abiding businesses, workers, and communities in your state.