Linn flood recovery projects focus of contractor, union debate

CEDAR RAPIDS - A contentious debate over project labor agreements in Linn County government could determine how much of the millions spent for public flood reconstruction goes to local union workers and contractors.

Iowa law requires government entities to award contracts to the lowest responsible bidder. In early flood-recovery work, that bidder has often been a non-union contractor from outside Linn County.

Project labor agreements stipulate labor conditions in a construction contract. The agreements vary, but in some cases they have stipulated hiring a certain percentage of or all the labor from local union building trades. In other cases, they have required contractors to meet general standards, such as paying a prevailing local wage or meeting specific training standards.

A project labor agreement imposed by Polk County on the Iowa Events Center several years ago withstood legal challenges, indicating such agreements can be required by local governments in Iowa as a condition of bidding.

Contractor groups that object to the agreements say they make public projects more expensive and discriminate against “merit shop” contractors that don't use union workers.

The Linn County Board of Supervisors has authorized hiring an attorney to prepare a project labor agreement, if it decides to do so.

“The reason I'm looking at PLAs is, there's been an effort to try to buy local and making sure the lowest responsible bidder gets the contract can conflict with that,”

Supervisor Brent Oleson said.

Oleson doesn't flatly object to non-local employers winning the county's flood-recovery contracts, but he doesn't want them to win the contracts by undercutting the wage scales of local contractors.

That message resonates with Johnnie Burke, business agent for Cement Finishers Local 21 in Cedar Rapids. The first round of public flood-recovery contracts hasn't been much help to his members.

“With the economy, half my members aren't working now,” he said.

Burke believes union workers are better qualified to build public projects by virtue of the unions' well-established apprenticeship training programs. He makes no secret of his disdain for non-unionized companies.

“Would you like it if someone came into your office, offered to do your job for less money and screwed up the work?” he asked.

Contractors who don't use union labor strongly object to that kind of characterization.

Ron Richard, co-owner of Dubuque-based Tricon Construction, said his company can't afford to shortchange quality in a project.

“As far as the quality, everybody has to follow the same plans and specifications,” Richard said. “You're watched by the same engineers, architects, owners and inspectors.”

The faces of Richard and co-owner Tim Puls have been displayed on signs held by Carpenters Union protesters outside the Linn County Sheriff's Office flood-restoration project, which Tricon is performing.

Richard said the company doesn't employ union carpenters because it prefers to use its own carpenters. Tricon sometimes hires union subcontractors, however.

Associated Builders and Contractors of Iowa is among the groups that have lobbied Linn County against project labor agreements. Greg Spenner, the group's president, describes the agreements as a contract between a government and a union. Unions “birthed PLAs to get more projects,” he said.

Spenner and the group's lobbyist, Sandy Helland, said requiring union labor does not ensure the projects are done with high quality, strong safety measures or local labor. They point out that an out-of-state employee of a contractor died at the Iowa Events Center.

The training programs in the merit shops adhere to the same U.S. Department of Labor standards as the union apprenticeship programs, members of the group say.

“The problem with prevailing wage is where you get these wages and fringes, you add cost to the project that is not necessary,” said Jeremy Price of Price Industrial and Electric, an electrical contractor in the group. He said much of his cost savings on projects comes not from paying workers less, but by using fewer workers because his workers are cross-trained in a variety of trades.

Oleson, the Linn County supervisor, is emphatic that project labor agreements don't have to favor union contractors. He said contractor associations have spread “misinformation” on that point.

“We're just trying to rebuild a community that's been devastated by a flood,” Oleson said. “They're trying to stir up trouble.”