To construct its new $325 million water treatment plant, the Springfield Water & Sewer Commission recently agreed to enter into a project labor agreement (PLA) with local unions.
These agreements remain controversial because they restrict competition by effectively preventing non-union contractors from bidding on the project with its own workers. Because the main purpose of the public bidding law is to obtain the lowest possible price for the rate-paying public, through robust competition, PLAs by definition get in the way of that purpose – and therefore are viewed with some skepticism by the courts.
