A Laboratory Project Agreement (PLA), also known as the Community Workforce Agreement, is a pre-employment collective agreement with one or more labour organizations that sets the terms and conditions for a given construction project. [1] Before workers are hired for the project, construction unions have the right to negotiate, determine wage rates and benefits for all workers working on the project concerned, and approve the provisions of the agreement. [2] [3] The terms of the agreement apply to all contractors and subcontractors who offer success for the project and replace all existing collective agreements. [2] PLAs are used for both public and private projects and their specific provisions can be adapted by the signatory parties to the needs of a given project. [3] The agreement may contain provisions to prevent strikes, lockouts or other work stoppages during the duration of the project. [2] As a general rule, TTPs require that employees recruited for the project be returned to union rental premises, that self-employed workers in trade unions pay trade union rights for the duration of the project, and that the contractor comply with union rules on pensions, working conditions and dispute resolution. [4] New York City has entered into a “historic” agreement with construction unions, the construction industry, as part of the Hiring NYC community initiative to allow union employment and access to union apprenticeships for low-income New Yorkers and minority workers in urban projects as part of the Hiring NYC Community Initiative mayor Bill de Blasio said. On February 17, 2001, President George W. Bush signed Executive Order 13202, “Preservation of Open Competition and Government Neutrality Government Contractors` Labor Relations on Federal and Federally Funded Construction Projects,” which prohibits the use of PLA for construction projects with federal funds. [21] In that decision, it was said that federally funded construction projects could not impose project work contracts.

[22] In practical terms, the decision specifies that neither the federal government nor a federal aid agency can compel or prohibit construction contractors from signing union contracts as a precondition for carrying out work on federally funded construction projects. [21] The contract allowed all previously agreed-upon LASs to proceed and did not result in projects that did not receive federal funding. [23] Bush`s ordinance overturned the previous executive order regarding the PLA, the Clinton Ordinance of 12836, which annulled The Executive Order of President George H.W. Bush in 1992. [16] In April 2001, President George W. Bush issued an amendment to exclude certain drafts from the order if, at the time of the contract, a contract had already been awarded under an existing PLA. [24] A number of women and minority business groups oppose project work agreements[62] and argue that PLAs have a disproportionate impact on small businesses, particularly those owned by women and minorities. These groups argue that EPAs are anti-market and discriminatory. [100] [101] In particular, groups, including the National Association of Women Business Owners, voted against the PLA and, in 1998, a hearing was held in the House of Representatives on the issue of minority opposition to government-mandated PLA. [102] The National Black Chamber of Commerce opposes the use of LTOs because of the small number of black trade unionists in the construction industry.