Get Baltimore Working Letter to Editor

The Get Baltimore Working Campaign is an effort by the Laborers International Union of North America (LiUNA or the Laborers) and its partners to educate the City of Baltimore on the benefits of Project Labor Agreements or as LiUNA calls them Community Partnership Agreements.

Community Partnership Agreements require that construction companies and developers receiving city financing enter into an agreement with a local construction union requiring that the company hire from within a local union hiring hall in exchange for a promise from the Union not to strike, picket, or disrupt the locally-funded project.

Project Labor Agreements have a strong history of ensuring that construction jobs come in on time and on budget, and Community Partnership Agreements are no different. LiUNA calls them Community Partnership Agreements because we strongly believe that communities should benefit when their tax dollars are funding major construction projects finance in part by Baltimore City. These tax dollars should not only benefit the city from a visible standpoint (i.e. new roads, bridges or buildings) but should also focus on improving the general prosperity of the surrounding communities. .

By ensuring that contractors are bound by Community Partnership Agreements, City government can also encourage, local hiring, good family healthcare benefits, local training, pensions and a livable wage - all things which benefit communities, families and Baltimore City as a whole.

Typical Community Partnership Agreements or Project Labor Agreements include the following:

• Collectively-bargained wage rates and fringe benefit payments are incorporated into the agreement
• Wages and benefits are fixed for the life of the agreement
• Work schedules and other terms are made uniform amoung the various crafts which allows for a construction strategy enabling project planners to talior production, account for logistical challenges, address project-specific needs, and minimize the project disruption and inconvenience to the public
• Hiring is conducted through union referral procedures
• Uninterrupted production is ensured by language prohibiting strikes or lockouts on the project
• Dispute resolution procedures are put into place to address contractual and jurisdiction issues: these may include a grievance-arbitration procedure, joint labor-management problem solving, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR)
• Fringe benefit payments are directed to joint-trustee pension, health insurance, vacation and apprentice training trust funds