Pat Barcas/staff photographer
Numerous tradespeople listen to Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council President Tom Villanova explain Chicago and Cook County Project Labor Agreements.
By Pat Barcas
Staff writer
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Email Pat Barcas at pat@foxvalleylabornews.com
BELLWOOD — There have been 109 project labor agreements in Cook County alone. With their growing popularity and benefit to the union construction industry, the Construction Industry Service Corporation decided to host an informational presentation March 31 to break down some questions about PLAs.
CISCO presented Tom Villanova, president of the Cook County Building and Construction Trades Council at Cement Masons Local 502 in Bellwood.
Villanova went over a sample Chicago and Cook County PLA to 125 tradespeople, and answered questions. He said PLAs are a valuable tool in protecting union jobs in the city, and one facet was area-wide agreements.
A clause in the sample said in regards to a contractor who is the successful bidder, but is not signatory to the applicable collective bargaining agreement, the collective bargaining agreement executed by the bidder will be relevant area-wide agreements regulating or governing wages, hours and other terms.
“You can’t have job A going union, job B going non-union,” said Villanova. “Once the bid is won, you must agree to a local collective bargaining agreement, or subcontract the job to union labor. It is against the law for us to stop the bidding, though.”
Villanova also said the PLA does not allow a work stoppage on a building site, but does allow lockouts elsewhere with other personnel if there is an off site agreement.
“We cannot strike for anything under this PLA,” he explained.
This does not cover different suppliers off site. For instance, manufacturers of cabinets for a job do not have to be union. It’s just too far reaching. The PLA does not guarantee a work stoppage from a secondary labor action, but it does make it extremely unlikely, not having happened in Cook County since 2010.
This allows for projects to be completed on time while also supporting other lockouts. Workers would also get retroactive pay for whatever collective bargaining agreement is settled on during the job.
“You get retroactive pay for whatever’s settled. This allows work to go on fairly,” said Villanova.
Villanova said it’s typical that union drug testing be satisfactory for jobs in the city, and the clause is noted in the sample PLA.
“We don’t want to double test. It’s expensive and time consuming. The PLA does supersede collective bargaining agreements,” he said.
CISCO Executive Director Dan Allen said the presentation far exceeded expectations.
“There’s been a lot of misinformation out there and I’ve been answering a lot of questions about PLAs,” he said. “Every group had a lot of misconceptions and Tom did a great job clearing things up.”