Court upholds Bush's order prohibiting mandatory project labor agreements

Sept. 1, 2002
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld President Bush's Executive Order 13202, which prohibits mandatory project labor agreements (PLAs) on federally funded and federally assisted projects. This is a major victory for the U.S. construction industry as it ensures a neutral government position and restores full and open competition in the federal contracting process,

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has upheld President Bush's Executive Order 13202, which prohibits mandatory project labor agreements (PLAs) on federally funded and federally assisted projects.

“This is a major victory for the U.S. construction industry as it ensures a neutral government position and restores full and open competition in the federal contracting process,” said Ken Adams, Associated Builders and Contractors national chairman and president of Pace Electric Inc., New Castle, Del. “We are pleased that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned the lower court and upheld the president's executive order.”

In April of 2001, the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department and others sued to bar enforcement of the executive order. In August 2001, a federal judge in the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the AFL-CIO's position. In November 2001, the Justice Department appealed this decision.

ABC, joined by a broad coalition of business organizations, filed a friend-of- the-court brief in opposition to the AFL-CIO. The coalition included the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, ABC's Metro Washington Chapter, ABC's Golden Gate Chapter, the National Right-To-Work Legal Defense Foundation and Maryland Chamber of Commerce. The coalition also included the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Contra Costa County (Calif.), Western Electric Contractors Association, Independent Roofing Contractors Association, Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction and the Richmond (Calif.) Chamber of Commerce.

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