Catherwood LibraryILR School

As the Trump administration continues to cut back Obama-era policies and rules, officials have decided to target “project labor agreements” (PLAs). These collective bargaining agreements were put in place in the construction industry to ensure that unionized workers were given priority in large infrastructure projects. Given Donald Trump’s bleak history with trade unions and his business backers’ general distaste for the clauses, as they disadvantage non-union bidders, it has not come as a surprise that the Trump administration would challenge the 2009 executive order by the former president. While most Democrats support PLAs, which almost always include a no-strike clause in favor of the employers, Trump’s director of the Office of Management and Budget was the chief sponsor of a bill aimed at ending all PLAs in federally-funded infrastructure projects. White House representatives claim that the issue will be solved on a bipartisan basis.