The MCA always urges people to check the promises made by proponents of project labor
agreements. Those hollow promises include wages, protection from strikes, safety, and hiring of local residents and underrepresented workers, among many other.
None of them are real, but too often, people need to learn the hard way.
The reality is the only promise a PLA keeps is to hire only union workers. Not in the union? You're not working on a PLA job. It's really that simple.
An article out of New Bedford is a case in point. The local building trades convinced the developers of Vineyard Wind and local leaders that a PLA was necessary to ensure local hiring. Apparently, it's not happening.
"Our residents are not getting the jobs. They are coming from out of town," a New Bedford career center official is quoted as saying. "They are busing people into work at our pier. How can that be?"
And as a further insult, organized labor is reportedly refusing to release the details of the PLA, saying it's a private contract between the unions and the windmill developers.
"If there is no transparency or accountability around the PLA and the union membership, then they are the ones who are hurting the causes of equal opportunity for New Bedford residents," said a community activist. "They are the ones who are putting up the barriers."
Indeed.
Read more about the broken promises of PLAs