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On April 26, President Joe Biden issued an executive order that establishes the Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. ABC is concerned that the Biden administration is promoting policies that undermine workers’ choice whether to freely join a union, such as government-mandated project labor agreements.

“President Joe Biden is certainly keeping his promise to be the most pro-union president ever, and the establishment of this Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment delivers on that promise. The administration’s task force would be wise to advance policies that benefit all of America’s workforce,” said Michael Bellaman, ABC president and CEO.

According to the EO:

“The Task Force shall, within 180 days of the date of this order, submit to the President recommendations for actions as described in subsection (b) of this section to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining in the public and private sectors and to increase union density. The Task Force may, at the Chair’s discretion, recommend appropriate or time-sensitive individual actions to promote worker organizing and collective bargaining before the deadline established by this section. The Task Force and its members shall work to implement all recommendations that the President may approve, to the extent permitted by law, and shall report their progress as directed by the Chair.”  

Vice President Kamala Harris chairs the task force, which includes the heads of several federal agencies.

“Of the 7.8 million workers employed in the U.S. construction industry, 87.3% have freely chosen not to join a union for a variety of compelling reasons. This choice is an important cornerstone of fair and open competition, which creates rewarding, sustaining careers in construction for all and provides tremendous value to taxpayers funding new infrastructure, clean energy, schools and affordable housing needed to rebuild America,” said Bellaman.

“It is concerning that the Biden administration is promoting policies that undermine workers’ choice to freely join a union, such as government-mandated project labor agreements, which force workers to join a union and/or pay union dues as a condition of employment on federal and federally assisted construction projects,” said Bellaman. “This reduces competition by small, women and minority businesses and workers and increases construction costs by 12%-20%, resulting in fewer jobs and improvements to America’s infrastructure. The Biden administration is also a strong supporter of the ABC-opposed Protecting the Right to Organize Act, which undermines a workers’ right to a secret ballot in a workplace election and suppresses worker choice by eliminating 27 state right-to-work laws that prohibit compulsory union membership in order to work.”

“Construction industry employers and employees should be watching the task force’s recommendations closely for its support of additional policies that will also increase costs to taxpayers, eliminate opportunities for small businesses, discriminate against nonunion workers and undermine America’s economic resilience and competitive edge in the global economy,” said Bellaman.

Construction industry employers and employees should be watching the task force’s recommendations closely for its support of additional policies that will also increase costs to taxpayers, eliminate opportunities for small businesses, discriminate against nonunion workers and undermine America’s economic resilience and competitive edge in the global economy.

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On April 14, Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives, led by Rep. Garrett Graves (R-La.), reintroduced the Building U.S. Infrastructure Through Limited Delays & Efficient Reviews (BUILDER) Act, which would modernize the outdated National Environmental Policy Act) to make infrastructure project reviews more efficient, reduce project costs, spur economic recovery and rebuild America. The BUILDER Act has been reintroduced as a leading priority of ABC and Congressional Republicans as negotiations continue on Capitol Hill on forming significant infrastructure legislation.

Following the reintroduction of the BUILDER Act, ABC Vice President of Legislative & Political Affairs Kristen Swearingen issued the following statement of support:

 “ABC applauds Rep. Graves and congressional leaders for reintroducing the BUILDER Act, which will go a long way towards eliminating unnecessary delays that cause budget overruns in construction. Construction businesses recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic will surely benefit from these modifications, which will help reduce costs for hardworking taxpayers and speed up project approvals so that the U.S. workforce can get back on the job quickly and safely. The coordinated, predictable and transparent process to streamline permitting will also enable the construction industry to plan and execute even the most complex projects while safeguarding our communities, maintaining a healthy environment and stewarding public funds properly.”

ABC is a member of the Unlock American Investment Coalition, which focuses on modernizing NEPA and unlocking American investment in a modern, efficient infrastructure and creating middle-class-sustaining jobs while advancing good environmental stewardship.

On March 2, ABC joined dozens of members of the Unlock American Investment Coalition in calling on Congress to improve and modernize the federal permitting process under NEPA. In a letter, the coalition addressed the economic issues brought on by the coronavirus pandemic and how investment in various infrastructure projects will encourage recovery and growth as long as the federal environmental review and permitting process is improved.

ABC has also supported regulatory efforts to modernize and create a more efficient NEPA review process, including support for the U.S. Council on Environmental Quality’s final rule revising its regulations implementing the procedural provisions under NEPA in July 2020.

Additionally, ABC and several other organizations submitted comments in support of the U.S. Department of Transportation’s proposed revisions to its regulations implementing the procedural provisions of NEPA.

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On April 14, the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure hosted a “Members’ Day Hearing” to seek recommendations on the policy priorities of members of the U.S. House of Representatives as they begin to consider legislation to reauthorize surface transportation legislation, which expires at the end of September.

After  the hearing, Rep. Ted Budd (N.C.), sponsor of ABC’s priority legislation, the Fair and Open Competition Act (H.R. 1284), sent a letter to the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure leadership signed by 26 members of the U.S. House expressing enthusiastic support for a fair and open competitive bidding process and strong opposition to project labor agreement mandates on federal and federally assisted taxpayer-funded construction projects.

Rep. Budd also provided written testimony urging the Committee to consider to include the Fair and Open Competition Act in the surface transportation reauthorization, while also warning the members of the harm that mandating PLAs would have on the construction industry.

“I ask that the committee include my Fair and Open Competition Act, H.R. 1284, in the surface transportation bill. This bill prevents federal agencies and recipients of federal assistance from requiring contractors to sign controversial project labor agreements (PLAs) as a condition of winning a construction contract. This would ensure that taxpayer funded construction contracts are awarded through fair and open competition. This guarantees the best value for hardworking taxpayers by prohibiting a rigged federal procurement process that discriminates against many small construction businesses. Many of the bill’s 45 cosponsors have signed onto a letter asking the committee to include this proposal ” said Rep. Budd. Rep. Budd’s full written testimony can be found here.

In a similar effort, on March 31, Sen. Todd Young (R-Ind.) authored a letter addressed to the leadership of the infrastructure-focused Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works that was signed by eight U.S. senators. Sen. Young is the lead sponsor of the Senate’s Fair and Open Competition Act (S. 403). The letter was also signed by Republican Sens. Tim Scott (S.C.), Kevin Cramer (N.D.), Cynthia Lummis (Wyo.), James Risch (S.D.), Roger Marshall (Kan.), Jerry Moran (Kan.), and John Barrasso (Wyo.).

Since its introduction, the Fair and Open Competition Act has been supported by a diverse coalition of construction and business associations as well as a large group of taxpayer, free market and consumer advocates.

These congressional efforts in support of FOCA come as President Joe Biden’s recently released American Jobs Plan calls on Congress to tie federal investments in infrastructure to ABC-opposed government-mandated project labor agreements/community workforce agreements, as well as prevailing wage regulations via the archaic Davis-Bacon Act, registered apprenticeship programs and the ABC-opposed PRO Act. President Biden’s plan also notably did not address a multi-year reauthorization of the expiring surface transportation legislation (the FAST Act), instead leaving the reauthorization process to Congress to address.

In ABC’s response to President Biden’s plan, president and CEO Mike Bellaman opposed the anticompetitive measures, saying, “Government-mandated PLAs exclude more than 87% of the U.S. construction workforce from rebuilding their communities and benefitting from well-paying middle-class jobs created by taxpayer investments in infrastructure.” Bellaman also pointed out that “taxpayers will spend 20% more per mandated PLA project, which results in fewer infrastructure improvements and less job creation to help America rebound from the pandemic’s economic devastation.”

As Congress begins to consider infrastructure-related legislation, ABC will continue to lead advocacy efforts to ensure that any federal investment in our nation’s infrastructure benefits all of the U.S. construction industry, regardless of labor affiliation. Learn more about ABC’s opposition to government-mandated PLAs and support for the Fair and Open Competition Act at freeenterprisealliance.org/foca.

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