EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. 13502 AND PROJECT LABOR AGREEMENTS: POLICY DESTINED FOR FAILURE

The debate over project labor agreements (PLAs) is a heated one that waxes and wanes with changes in Administrations. Executive Order No. 13502 was issued shortly after President Barack Obama took office, and it made good on his promises to organized labor as a Presidential candidate to "repeal th[e] ban on PLAs," and "use[] project labor agreements to encourage completion of projects on time and on budget." In actuality, the policy is a non-transparent mechanism for redistributing wealth to union labor and their unions. PLAs restrict competition by requiring nonunion contractors to employ a majority of union labor on federal construction projects, and violate federal competition law. PLAs also increase construction costs. Despite Executive Order No. 13502's rhetoric, PLAs cannot live up to the order's touted goals of "achieving economy and efficiency," "producing labor-management stability," or "ensuring compliance with ... labor and employment standards." In short, Executive Order No. 13502 is an extremely unsound procurement policy that needs to be invalidated by the Courts or by Congress.

Author

• Vanek, Vince Todd

Language

• en

Keyword

• 13502
• Agreements
• Order
• Labor
• Executive
• Project

Date created

• 2010

Type of Work

• Master's Thesis

License

• All rights reserved

Rights statement

• In Copyright

GW Unit

• Government Procurement Law

Degree

• LL.M.

Advisor

• Schooner, Steven L.

Persistent URL

•  https://scholarspace.library.gwu.edu/etd/6108vb52h