The Cloquet City Council continued their discussion on amended changes to the city’s project labor agreement, or PLA, at its meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 7.
PLAs are currently implemented for city projects where costs total $175,000 or more and require contractors to abide by certain terms such as timelines, working conditions and budgets.
A January lawsuit against the city sparked months of debate over the PLA, with the council voting 4-3 to eliminate the agreement from city code in May and then repealing that decision in June when Ward 2 Councilor Sheila Lamb changed her vote to favor the PLA.
The council has been discussing the PLA for several weeks now and has hit a stalemate when it comes to the language around wages and contributions to employee benefit funds.
In the past, the PLA has stated that all contractors have agreed to pay wages and contributions to employee benefit funds in the amounts designated by local area labor agreements. Proposed language to the PLA would instead include an agreement for non-union contractors to instead pay a prevailing hourly wage consistent with Minnesota statutes.
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Cloquet City Council looks to amend project labor agreement PLAs are currently implemented for city projects where costs total $175,000 or more and require contractors to abide by certain terms such as timelines, working conditions and budgets.
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Prevailing wage is the minimum hourly wage employers must pay certain workers who work on construction projects, according to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. If it were to be added to Cloquet's PLA, it would erase the current language that requires contractors to pay into benefit funds in amounts designated by local area labor agreements.
But opponents to the amended language argue that it would allow non-union contractors to “cheat employees,” according to Duluth Building and Construction Trades Council President Craig Olson.
“We find everyday that non-union members will do things that are legal under the prevailing wage law, but cheat their employees out of benefits and wages that they’ve earned,” Olson said. “By not approving our PLA language, you’ll be throwing us out and not protecting our local workers.”
Councilor Kerry Kolodge argued that it’s unfair for non-union employees to have to pay into union programs and benefits when they, the workers, might not see any of the benefits.
“This makes it fair for all workers, not just those who are part of a union,” Kolodge said.
After approximately an hour of discussion among council members and union representatives in attendance, councilor Lyz Jaakola asked for further discussion at a public council work meeting in the future with representatives from both sides of the issue. No vote was necessary to set the agreement and no date has been set as of time of publication, but is expected to be announced soon.
