An economic development package recently introduced by the county Board of Legislators includes a series of bills that would ensure county construction projects are completed with a lower threshold for Project Labor Agreements as well as with the use of a contractor apprenticeship program.
The first bill, co-sponsored by Kenneth W. Jenkins (D-Yonkers) and Catherine Parker (D-Mamaroneck, Rye, Larchmont and portions of New Rochelle and Harrison) would amend a Nov. 2014 bill that requires the county to negotiate Project Labor Agreements, or pre-hire bargaining agreements outlining the terms for a construction project, for all construction projects over $1 million. Instead, all county construction projects over $250,000 or with an estimated construction completion time including design over 18 months would be subject to PLAs.
In the bill justification submitted Jan. 20, Jenkins said it would ensure better fiscal accountability, in part because of what he called a “loophole” created to avoid negotiating PLAs. The bill would include carpenters, teamsters, painters, electricians, operating engineers and all other building and trades unions.
“When a project often comes to the County Board for a lower dollar amount, it is then is amended and increased in the future,” Jenkins said. “PLAs are good for county taxpayers and businesses by providing good, safe job opportunities and ensuring projects get completed on budget and on time due to the supply of qualified labor and relative ease of project management.”
Ross J. Pepe, president of the Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley Inc. that represents 600 regional construction businesses, said that the organization fully supported the bill.
“PLAs are a way to ensure labor harmony in the workplace and other public benefits,” Pepe said. “With a threshold set at $250,000, it”™s likely that these savings and many public benefits would be more limited than on larger projects where the potential for cost-efficiencies are often greater.”
Benefits of PLAs, Construction Industry Council spokesman George Drapeau added, include standardized workdays, expedited grievance processes, and another “15 or 20 reasons you would want to do them.” They allow project owners to circumvent Wicks Law, a New York law that requires that state and local construction projects costing more than $1.5 million in Westchester to have separate plumbing, heating/ventilation/air conditioning and electrical contracts.
They also help fulfill Minority Business Enterprise requirements and a drug-free workplace program and ensure no strikes or picketing. If there are any jurisdictional disputes between subcontractors, they are worked out among the different trades, he added.
Drapeau said other area construction projects that have used PLAs include the Ridge Hill shopping center in Yonkers, the Westchester County courthouse, The Westchester shopping mall in White Plains and the $3.9 billion Tappan Zee bridge replacement.
“There’s enhanced productivity and quality of construction with PLAs,” he said. “There’s a reason they’ve been around since the 1930s. They save municipalities time and money and avoid the risk of prevailing wage violations.”
Going hand-in-hand with the PLA bill is a second bill, also sponsored by Jenkins and Parker as well as Board of Legislators Majority Leader Catherine Borgia, which calls for apprenticeship training requirements that would create more job opportunities for county construction projects.
If signed, the bill would require a written agreement between an employer and an apprentice prior to entering into a construction contract. The agreements would have to be registered with and approved by the state Commissioner of Labor.
“As the need for improvements to our infrastructure grows and new technologies in trades continue to emerge, the only way we are going to be able to fill jobs and finish projects on time and budget is making sure our workforce is abundantly prepared and skilled in the latest technologies,” Parker said.
Drapeau said apprenticeship training programs help reduce compensation insurance costs, making it more economically feasible to enter into PLAs.
“The apprenticeship training programs are really important,” Drapeau said. “If public works dollars are being spent on a project, they’re also helping build the workforce of tomorrow.”
The bill would go into effect one year from the date it was signed into legislation.
