Construction workers and employers joined members of the Congressional Building Trades Caucus to advocate for immediate investment in the nation’s domestic infrastructure Wednesday on Capitol Hill.
The Construction Employers of America (CEA), a coalition of seven national contracting associations, is calling for key legislative provisions as Congress discusses a federal infrastructure bill. They are taking their message to the Congressional Building Trades Caucus, a bipartisan caucus founded a little over a year ago by a Republican Rep. David McKinley of West Virginia and Democratic Rep. Donald Norcross of New Jersey.
Norcross was a union electrician, and McKinley spent 50 years in the construction industry.
CEA is advocating for the voluntary use of Project Labor Agreements (PLA’s), which are sometimes blamed for cost-overruns. The association wants Congress to maintain the voluntary-status of PLA’s in a federal infrastructure package.
“Project Labor Agreements not only drive up the cost of projects because of union featherbedding and inefficient work rules, but they discriminate against the 86 percent of American construction workers who choose not to join a union, by effectively banning companies with nonunion workers from bidding on such contracts,” Patrick Semmens, vice president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, told The Daily Caller News Foundation. “PLA’s are a nothing more than a handout to construction union bosses at the expense of taxpayers and nonunion workers,” Semmens said.
The association is also advocating for stronger prevailing wage requirements, or Davis-Bacon requirements. The Davis-Bacon Act of 1931 established rules that compelled employers to pay the local prevailing wage on federally-funded projects.
“As an engineer, I understand how America’s construction workers helped build this great country, McKinley said at a press conference on Capitol Hill Wednesday. “From infrastructure investments to corporate tax reform to streamlining regulations, there are a host of options for federal policymakers to boost job growth, drive economic prosperity, and allow America to reclaim the mantle of infrastructure leadership on the world stage.”
“I know we need to update our aging infrastructure and that, when we invest properly, we will add high-skilled, high-wage jobs,” Norcross said. “It’s great to stand alongside construction contractors and join them in supporting worker training and apprenticeship programs and protections, like Davis Bacon.”
The group of employers hoped to move forward a planned infrastructure bill in Congress. President Donald Trump plans to unveil a $1 trillion infrastructure plan in the coming weeks, according to Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao. The plan is expected to call for $200 billion in taxpayer funding, with the remainder coming from private investment.
CEA’s seven associations include FCA International, International Council of Employers of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, Mechanical Contractors Association of America, National Electrical Contractors Association, Sheet Metal & Air Conditioning Contractors National Association, Signatory Wall and Ceiling Contractors Alliance, and The Association of Union Constructors.
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