Cleveland, OH
December 18, 2023
Thank you, Fatima. And hello, everyone!
It's great to be with you all, especially with so many union members and labor leaders. The work that you're doing is so important right now. President Biden has kicked off an infrastructure decade. So let me say, on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for building America.
I'm going to start with a term that the people in this room know very well: Project Labor Agreements. These are the agreements – before any work gets done on a construction project – that bring together contractors, subcontractors, and unions to make sure the work gets done right and on time, prevent disputes and delays, and guarantee good wages.
Now, outside this room, many people might not know what PLAs are. But they can see them at work all across America.
From the Tennessee Valley Authority, where union workers keep the lights on and electricity flowing for more than 10 million people across the southeast.
To New York City for a project to renovate public schools, which saved taxpayers an estimated $221 million and with no construction worker injuries.
And from Prince George's County in Maryland, where the MGM National Harbor Casino was built with a local workforce and nearly $370 million worth of contracts going to minority and women-owned businesses.
To today in Lansing, Michigan, where construction workers are building the site that will produce batteries for electric vehicles. At that jobsite, there are three generations of union carpenters – a grandfather, father, and granddaughter – who are working together and who all know the value of a good union job.
All of these projects were built with PLAs in place. That means they were done on time and on budget, with union contracts, with union wages, and with highly skilled workers.
Imagine if this was business as usual. Imagine if all the major construction projects that the federal government invests in were built right, built on time, and built to last.
That's why we're in Cleveland today.
The Biden-Harris administration is here to announce a final rule that requires – with just a few limited exceptions – Project Labor Agreements on federal contracts valued at or above $35 million.
First and foremost, this new rule is good for the government's bottom line.
Why? Because Project Labor Agreements employ highly skilled workers. Contractors, subcontractors, and unions know what they're getting into from the outset. And these agreements help guarantee a consistent supply of well-trained workers. All of that helps ensure the work gets done right – and it prevents delays and disruptions. So this new rule is going to save taxpayer money.
But that's not all.
Project Labor Agreements are good for workers, in the ways that Fatima just described. That's because many PLAs, like the one covering this federal building, support equitable pathways into good jobs, Registered Apprenticeships, and hiring from the local area.
Project Labor Agreements are also good for employers who do right by their workers.
They provide businesses with a skilled workforce. And that increases the company's value and competitiveness for the future. Just take Whiting Turner – the prime contractor for this project and who is with us today. As contractors, they know firsthand what a difference PLAs can make on getting a large-scale project done economically and efficiently. And they demonstrated that right here by committing to a PLA for this GSA-funded project.
Project Labor Agreements are also good for communities.
Because of this new rule, when people drive by a big federal construction site in their community, they're going to know that the project is going to get done on time. It's going to be a safe worksite. And it's going to get done at or under budget.
This rule is designed to create real change. We're not just encouraging Project Labor Agreements; we're requiring them on most large-scale projects. And now that we have this new regulation, we expect PLA projects to go forward all across the country.
Just as President Biden has said, we're going to build a better America. We're going to build it right. And we're going to build it on time and on-budget.
We have lots to build together.
That's why the Biden-Harris administration is taking a whole-of-government approach.
And I'm so thrilled to be joined by my colleagues: Jason Miller at OMB and Robin Carnahan our GSA Administrator, as well as Congresswoman Brown and Mayor Bibb.
Today is the start of something big.
We're proving that what makes good sense for government is also good for workers. It's good for businesses. It's good for our country.
Thank you all for being a part of it.
And now I'm so pleased to be joined by Dave Wondolowski.
As President of the Cleveland Building and Construction Trades for more than a decade, Dave has been a champion for workers and for good jobs in this community. Dave, thank you. And the floor is yours.