North America’s Building Trades Unions won a preliminary injunction May 16 in federal court against the U.S. Department of Defense, its Veterans’ Affairs Administration and the U.S. General Services Administration which had all ordered earlier this year that project labor agreement language be removed from their new contracts for large projects. 

Judge Rudolph Contreras of the Washington, D.C., circuit court wrote that NABTU was “simply seeking to preserve the status quo as defined by a duly issued Executive Order [EO 14063 signed in 2022 by then-President Biden] until the legality of the new memoranda is fully adjudicated” and granted the injunction. The agencies had issued memorandums earlier this year instructing contractors not to include PLA language in new contracts.

“North America’s Building Trades Unions applaud the U.S. District for the District of Columbia’s decision striking down the Department of Defense and GSA’s illegal attempt to ignore the Project Labor Agreement Executive Order. This ruling restores the requirement that all large federal construction projects include Project Labor Agreements—a critical win for workers, taxpayers, and national security,” said Sean McGarvey, NABTU president, in a statement. The pacts between craftworkers and contractors set wage rates and work rules ahead of time and typically involve preconditions from labor organizations involved to avoid strikes and lockouts. 

While subcontractors and contractors were not required to participate in any collective bargaining to work on a project with a PLA, critics have said that the agreements can favor union workers over nonunion workers, and can lead to higher construction costs.

The ruling drew a strong rebuke from industry groups that represent contractors in Washington. The Associated Builders and Contractors, which represents mostly merit shop contractors, said in a statement it “respectfully disagrees with the court’s reinstatement of illegal and costly project labor agreement mandates on a wide range of federal construction projects critical to America’s national security,” Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of government affairs continued in her statement, saying that “Instead, all government-mandated PLAs should be entirely rescinded by the Trump administration to prioritize efficient use of taxpayer dollars on high-quality, safely built projects over steering contracts to special interests.”

The Associated General Contractors of America, which successfully challenged the Biden administration PLA mandate in the federal court of claims on a small number of federal projects via bid protests, also urged President Trump to issue a new executive order to rescind the Biden-era mandate.

“The ruling in this case clearly demonstrates the need for the Trump administration to revoke former President Biden’s unlawful—as the courts have ruled—executive order imposing government-mandated project labor agreements on most federal construction projects. Leaving the measure on the books while having most agencies announce they won’t follow it is clearly not a viable approach,” said Brian Turmail, vice president, public affairs and workforce for the AGC.

ABC said it would appeal Contreras’ ruling but agreed that a new executive order would be necessary to overturn the PLA mandate, barring a quick ruling from a higher court.