Military Construction and Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017
Floor Speech
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Mr. NORCROSS. Mr. Chair, let's start out by talking about some of the facts, because I hear some talking points from those who are trying to disturb and remove all workers' rights.
There is nothing that currently is in place that mandates project labor agreements be used. If so, we would have thousands and thousands of them. It makes them permissible when a large and complex job would benefit from a precontract agreement, because that is what we are talking about. We are not talking about building a house or renovating a bedroom. Large, complex projects, that is what we are talking about.
All it talks about is, before you sign a contract, make sure that you spell out very specifically the issues that could come up germane to that job.
I have negotiated in my past life over 100 of these. Why? Because employers understand that this is to their benefit. There is a better cost ratio balance when they do a project labor agreement. They are public jobs, they are private jobs where nobody is mandating everything or anything.
What we are saying here is that entering into a project labor agreement does one very important thing that nobody quite remembers here: Helmets to Hardhats, taking our veterans who served our country, giving them an opportunity to come home, put their uniform away, and go to work on a construction project. That alone is worth its weight in gold, and that is what Helmets to Hardhats does under a project labor agreement. It creates and allows that next generation of construction workers, those skilled craftsmen, to be part of that. Not one dime of that apprenticeship program comes from the government.
This works. Why does it work? Because it saves money. The employer likes it because there are less headaches on the job, and it is probably the most important tool that could be in that worker's toolbox, to make sure that they level the playing field for a quality job that comes in on time and under budget.
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