Page 26 - BusinessWest March, 21, 2022

The EO on PLAs
What Does Biden’s Decree Mean for Small-business Owners?
By: Alexander Cerbo, Esq.
Keeping his promise of being “the most union-friendly pres- ident in American history,”
President Biden and his administra- tion issued Executive Order (EO) 14063, which mandates project labor agreements (PLAs) on “large-scale construction projects.”
“Some argue that PLAs put small non-union construction business- es at a disadvantage because they increase the cost of doing business. Considering the fact that most small businesses in the construction industry are non-union, PLAs put them at a great disadvantage.”
A project labor agreement is a col- lective bargaining agreement between a contractor and the building trade union. A large-scale construction proj- ect is one within the U.S. that has an estimated total cost of $35 million or more, and usually refers to construc- tion, rehabilitation, alteration, conver- sion, extension, repair, or improvement of a ‘vertical public works’ project. Famous examples of large-scale con- struction projects that were governed by PLAs include Disney World, the Kennedy Space Center, and Yankee Sta- dium. The EO is estimated to impact more than 200,000 workers and $262 billion in federal funding. For those in the industry, you should become famil- iar with the PLA.
PLAs are negotiated before any workers are hired, and they establish the terms of employment on a project, including wages, hours, working condi- tions, and dispute-resolution methods, among other things. If a business is unionized, the PLA must coexist with the business’ existing collective bar- gaining agreement. Biden’s EO con- tains several additional requirements of PLAs going forward. For example,
all contractors and subcontractors related to the project must be allowed to compete for work, unionized or not. In addition, these PLAs must contain mutually binding dispute-resolution provisions as well as provide alter- native mechanisms for cooperation between labor and management.
But what does this mean for small businesses that are not unionized going forward? Maybe, not a whole lot of good. But that depends on your business model.
What is considered ‘small’ typi- cally depends on what industry you are in, and could range from fewer than 500 employees or up to 2,500 employees, or even more. Essentially, you are a small business if you are a privately owned corporation, part- nership, or sole proprietorship that has fewer employees and less annual revenue than a public corporation or regular-sized business. According to the Small Business Administration, the
PLAs
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The Royal Law Firm
is a Woman-Owned Corporate Law Firm Servicing New England
413.586.2288 www.TheRoyalLawFirm.com
A Certified Women’s Business Enterprise
CERTIFIED WITH THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS:
The Massachusetts Supplier Diversity Office
The United States Small Business Administration’s Federal Contracting Program The National Association of Minority and Women Owned Law Firms
The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council
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