Administration Pushes Unions, Underrepresented Workers for Infrastructure Projects

Much of the money in the infrastructure law comes in the form of competitive grants to state and local transportation agencies. The agencies are in charge of running the projects and hiring contractors, paid for in part with federal money.

In evaluating applications for grant funding, federal officials will give preference to projects that promise to hire local workers or workers from underrepresented groups in the construction industry, such as women and members of minority groups, administration officials said.

They will also prioritize applications that use project labor agreements, which are favored by labor unions. Project labor agreements are short-term contracts often between unions and agencies that spell out in advance the pay and working conditions on a particular project.

Last month President Biden signed an executive order mandating project labor agreements on all federal construction projects costing more than $35 million.

Advocates say such agreements make projects more efficient. Critics say they make projects more expensive.

Administration officials say they will also prohibit use of federal money to fund efforts to dissuade workers from joining unions, and will encourage local agencies to build apprenticeship and other training programs.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, speaking at an internal agency event Monday, said the infrastructure law would create thousands of construction jobs. “We need to know that everybody can access these jobs so that we build a more diverse workforce,” he said.

Administration officials and industry groups say the Biden administration has been unusually explicit in linking its labor standards to federal funding opportunities.

“What we’re seeing is basically taking things farther on the labor front than we’ve ever seen before,” said Jimmy Christianson, vice president of government relations at the Associated General Contractors of America.

Mr. Christianson said he wasn’t sure how the administration’s guidelines would help ease the industry’s labor shortage.

“Are you really solving the problem of workforce shortage issues that everybody is facing, or are you just trying to play a political tune?” he said. “I think the jury is still out.”

Already several of the grant programs in the infrastructure law have included the labor guidelines in their funding notices.

On Monday, the Federal Transit Administration said it was accepting applications from agencies to buy low-emission or electric buses. The agency said applicants should spell out “whether and how project delivery and implementation create good-paying jobs with the free and fair chance to join a union.”

Write to David Harrison at [email protected]