Several years ago, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court approved the right of Massachusetts Awarding Authorities to require all contractors and subcontractors working on particularly complex public projects to conform to Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) negotiated by the Authority with labor unions. PLAs make trade unions the sole permissible source of labor for an entire project. Details of the SJC's decision were reported in the Spring 2000 issue of Construction Law Comments.
By Presidential order, the federal government now bars use of mandatory, comprehensive PLAs on many public projects. An order issued by President Bush in 2001 provides that public contracting authorities shall neither require nor prohibit the use of a PLA on any federal or federally funded project. The legality of that order was recently affirmed by the United States Court of Appeals. This means that any public contracting authority subject to this Presidential order may not require any contractor or subcontractor working on the project to agree to, or comply with, a PLA as a condition of working on the project. While this Presidential order directly applies to projects awarded by the federal government and its agencies, it also applies to state projects which receive federal funds. Because many public projects in Massachusetts are wholly or partly funded by the federal government, this Presidential order will substantially reduce use of PLAs on Massachusetts public projects. This
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