The Missouri State Building and Construction Trades Council Nov. 13 filed a
motion to intervene in a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the ABC Heart of America Chapter that alleged local school and ambulance districts broke a state law by requiring project labor agreements (PLA) on recent projects.
The Heart of America Chapter Nov. 2 sued the Bayless School District in St. Louis and the St. Charles County Ambulance District in Cole County Circuit Court for violating the 2007 Fairness in Public Construction Act and asked that current construction projects be stopped, current contracts be invalidated and that any illegally spent state money be refunded.
The Fairness in Public Construction Act is a state law enacted in 2007 designed to maintain and promote economical, nondiscriminatory and efficient expenditures of public funds on construction projects. Specifically, the law prohibits PLAs on state-funded projects and restricts their use on projects using local tax resources.
“When projects are bid using criteria designed to eliminate nonunion bidders, taxpayers get taken for a ride,” said ABC Heart of America Chapter President and CEO Jim Kistler. “The kind of cronyism that steers construction contracts to union-only contractors is discriminatory and wasteful.”
Prompting the Heart of America Chapter to sue, earlier this year, the Bayless School District imposed a PLA on project just before the end of the bidding process, causing the low bidder to be disqualified for refusing to sign the PLA and giving the project to a union contractor, even though it would have cost taxpayers an extra $20,000. The St. Charles County Ambulance District required companies to certify they were either union or willing to sign a PLA before allowing them to submit a bid.
The Building and Construction Trades Council’s motion to intervene claims that the law allows the government to encourage the use of PLAs on projects as long as the general contractor is the one that actually imposes it.
“This motion suggests government officials deny taking responsibility simply by saying ‘We didn’t do it, the general contractor did it – wink, wink, nod, nod,’” said Kistler. “Missouri taxpayers cannot allow government officials to deflect their responsibility to follow the law.”
The judge has issued a preliminary order in favor of the Heart of America Chapter. The defendants have until Dec. 13 to respond or the order will stand.
For more information on the lawsuit, contact Jim Kistler at ABC Heart of America Chapter,
jim@abcksmo.org.
For more information on PLAs, visit
www.thetruthaboutplas.com.