DE bill could significantly impact construction projects
Dover, Del. – On Thursday, hundreds of workers from private companies gathered in front of Legislative Hall to protest Senate Bill 272.
SB 272, a substitute for SB 241, would introduce Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) for school district construction projects with union workers on projects costing at least $1 million starting next year.
Protestors said the bill would be devastating for non-union workers.
“I mean, at that point, it’s taken the right to work out of everybody in the state. You’d have to be a union contractor to be able to do that work,” Senior Project Manager at Nickle Electrical Companies Stanley Twardus said. “And they’re trying to say that that’s not the fact that you just need to use union labor to do that work, which that’s going to put all the small contractors and the nonunion contractors at a disadvantage.”
Supporters of the bill, including bill sponsor Sen. Jack Walsh (D – District 9), say it helps union workers but not at the expense of merit workers.
“This bill does not prevent merit shops from bidding on school construction and renovation contracts that have a PLA,” Walsh testified in the Senate chamber Thursday. “Senate Bill 272 is about recalibrating our goals and making sure we have laws on the books that ensure high quality and timely construction and promoting opportunity on these crucial projects within our state.”
He said he would add an amendment to the bill to clarify that, to trigger a PLA, there would have to be at least two union bids, which would prevent driving up costs. However, protestors remain skeptical. Twardus and his colleagues told WMDT the vast majority of workers in Delaware are merit-based.
“It would be union bid against union bid,” Twardus said.
However, in the Senate chamber, Walsh said SB 272 would permit contractors and subcontractors to “retain a percentage of their workforce” and that a successful bidder or subcontractor of the bidder is bound by the PLA only for “that specific project, school construction or renovation project.” Walsh also said the PLAs for school construction and renovation projects would include participation goals for “disadvantaged business enterprises.”
“These targets would require that a specific percentage of the total contract value is awarded to businesses owned by women, people of color, veterans, and individuals with disabilities,” Walsh said.
SB 272 passed the Senate Labor Committee and is ready for consideration on the Senate floor.
