Building trades unions absorbed a huge wallop in the courts on July 12, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit upheld President Bush's Executive Order outlawing project labor agreements on federally funded construction projects.

This is a major decision against construction unions, and depending on how it plays out before the U.S. Supreme Court, it's sure to have a long-term, negative affect on the ability of the building trades to secure work for their members.

"The decision minimizes the rights of hundreds of thousands of construction workers by giving the president license to disregard the labor laws on federally financed projects," said AFL-CIO Building Trades Department President Edward Sullivan.

Project labor agreements (PLAs) are collective bargaining pacts that establish common work rules for construction sites. They are used in both public and private sectors to coordinate operations of large and complex construction projects to assure the jobs proceed smoothly, harmoniously and without delays.

The fallout of the court bolstering President Bush's executive order is expected to have a limited effect on Michigan. The $1.6 billion Midfield Terminal at Metro Airport would have been impacted by Bush's decision, but the project is complete. If proposed improvements to U.S.-Canada border crossings in Detroit and Port Huron ever take place, they would be prohibited from employing project labor agreements. So too would proposed improvements and expansion of the Soo Locks.

Under Bush's Executive Order 13202, any state or local agency considering use of a project labor agreement, must give up that choice if it wants to receive any amount of federal financial support for its project.

"There's not a lot of federal money used in connection with project labor agreements in Michigan," said Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council Secretary-Treasurer Tom Boensch. "It's just a tool we don't often use." He said road and bridge work in our state is already performed at a rate that's about 95 percent union. University construction work can be funded in part by federal dollars, but he said the money usually comes in the form of grants, which aren't affected by Bush's executive order.

Billions of dollars in public works projects around the nation are affected by Bush's order, issued in February 2001, which is similar to one that was put in place during President Bush, Sr.'s administration. President Clinton rescinded that executive order early in his administration. In April 2001, the Building Trades Department sought to halt enforcement of Bush's order, and a U.S. District Court judge agreed with the union's position that rules within the National Labor Relations Act preempts the president's action. The Bush Administration took that matter to the appeals court, which overturned the district court's ruling.

Ken Adams, chairman of the Associated Builders and Contractors, calls the ruling "a major victory for the U.S. construction industry."

The building trades' Sullivan said, "The building trades are bitterly disappointed by this decision and we are considering our legal options," including an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.