Summary: Project labor agreements are one form of "prehire" collective bargaining agreements between contractors, or owners on behalf of contractors, and labor unions in the construction industry. Project labor agreements are also known as prehire agreements because they can be negotiated before employees vote on union representation or before the contractor hires any workers. This report provides information on the use of such agreements on federal construction contracts and related matters. The request largely resulted from a June 1997 Presidential Memorandum that encourages federal agencies to use these types of collective bargaining agreements in their construction contracts valued at more than $5 million and requires agencies to establish procedures and criteria for project labor agreement use within 120 days. This report summarizes information on (1) the number of federal construction and other projects for which project labor agreements were used and the extent to which such agreements have been used on projects sponsored by nonfederal organizations, including public projects with some federal funding; (2) the procedures and criteria for using project labor agreements established by federal agencies, as required by the Presidential Memorandum; (3) federal agency procedures established to comply with a congressional letter to federal agencies requesting that they notify Congress of the planned use of project labor agreements; and (4) the feasibility of comparing contractors' performance under federal construction contracts with and without project labor agreements.
