The Building and Construction Trades’ Department of the AFL-CIO announced that it will request the U.S. Supreme Court review the case in which the D.C. Court of Appeals upheld the legality of a Bush Administration executive order restricting the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) on federally funded construction. The appellate court ruling in Building and Constr. Trades Dep’t v. Allbaugh, (295 F .3d 28, 170 LRRM 2449) reversed a district court order which had enjoined the executive order.

The SMACNA/M/NECACAA Alliance filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the D.C. Circuit opposing the order noting that:

“The executive order prohibited owner-developers and labor organizations from negotiating PLAs, disrupting the economic balance between management and labor established under the National Labor Relations Act; and that

“PLAs establish uniform working conditions and dispute resolution mechanisms including no-strike clauses which are useful tools in bringing projects to completion, on time, on budget and without disruption from labor disputes.”

The Alliance is in the process of drafting a brief encouraging the Supreme Court to grant the Building Trades request for review.