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Biden Administration Seeks to Promote Unions, Underrepresented Workers in Infrastructure Spending
Agency guidelines would favor grant applications that make it easier for workers to join unions
President Joe Biden addressing an ironworkers union local last month in Maryland
PHOTO: SAUL LOEB/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE/GETTY IMAGES
The Biden administration is planning to give preference to infrastructure projects that encourage workers to unionize or that hire from underrepresented groups as it prepares to spend billions of dollars from last year’s infrastructure law, administration officials said.
The guidelines are the latest of several attempts by the Biden administration to promote labor unions. President Biden, a longtime labor advocate, has frequently hailed the infrastructure law by saying it will create union jobs. Administration officials say the guidelines will also help companies diversify their workforce in the midst of a labor shortage. The Department of Transportation and the Department of Labor have been working together to write the funding guidelines.
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 a White House event on Monday.
PHOTO: SHAWN THEW/POOL/SHUTTERSTOCK
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.”
Earlier
The size of the new bipartisan infrastructure bill isn’t the only thing that separates this legislation from its predecessors. WSJ’s Gerald F. Seib explains the five key ways this bill takes a different approach to infrastructure. Photo illustration: Elise Dean (Video from 11/15/21)THE WALL STREET JOURNAL INTERACTIVE EDITION
Write to David Harrison at david.harrison@wsj.com
EXCLUSIVE
Teamsters union hounds delinquent members for back dues
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A Teamsters union is picking a fight with an unlikely enemy — its own members.
In an extraordinary move, Teamsters Local 707 has sent delinquency collection notices to off-track-betting workers and other members it says are in arrears for union dues totaling hundreds or even thousands of dollars a pop.
The targeted members were on maternity leave, medical or disability leave or furlough during the coronavirus pandemic. While union dues are automatically deducted from worker paychecks, that is not the case when members are off the payroll.
If the members don’t cough up what is owed, Teamsters 707 warned that it will instruct the Nassau County OTB and other employers to double the union dues taken from the workers’ salaries until they’re paid up.
“Are [union officials] acting like a debt collector? I think it’s worse. It’s more like extortion,” said OTB cashier Rosie Schwab, an employee since 1998 who was told by the Teamsters that she owed $1,452.50.
Teamsters Local 707 Secretary Treasurer John Zirpoli wrote in a letter to the OTB workers, “A review of our records indicates you are delinquent in your dues payments to Teamsters Local 707.
“It is the members responsibility to continue to pay union dues when out on either compensation, disability, FMLA, LOA or furlough because you are still considered an active member member who will be returning to work without loss of seniority at some point in time, according to Article XVIII Section 6A of the International Constitution,” he said.
A letter to one worker said, “As of this date, the amount of union dues/fees owed to bring your account up to date is $1,545.50.
“This amount will pay you through the month of November, 2021. Please remit a check or money order payable to Local Union 707 to cover the back union dues/fees owed. If your dues/fees are not paid your employer will be instructed to deduct double dues/fees until your account becomes current.”
Schwab raged, “I don’t think anyone making the amount of money we make should have to pay this debt to the union.
“Absolutely not. It’s unthinkable,” she said.
Schwab spent time on workers’ compensation after getting injured in a fall.
Susan Oddo, an OTB branch manager in Valley Stream, LI, who has worked for OTB since 1997, pays about $80 a month in union dues. She got a letter that says she owes more than $800 to Teams Local 707.
“I’ve never heard of this before. The Teamsters leadership is trying to strong-arm members. Kevin McCaffrey is trying to strong arm us,” Oddo said, referring to the union president, who is also a Suffolk County legislator.
“It’s horrible what they’re trying to do to us. I don’t think it’s fair. I don’t think it’s right. It’s ridiculous.”
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