The Public Interest Institute, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research and educational institute in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, has released a new study that concludes the project labor agreement (PLA) agreed to for the construction of the Iowa Events Center project in downtown Des Moines, placed an “unnecessary burden” on local workers, businesses and taxpayers.
The Iowa Events Center project was conceived by the board of supervisors of Polk County, Iowa, to help revitalize Des Moines’ downtown area. The board decided to renovate the city’s existing Polk County Convention Complex and Veterans Memorial Auditorium, while building a new 17,000-seat sports and entertainment arena and a new exhibit and meeting hall. In 2002, the board signed a PLA with the Central Iowa Building and Construction Trade Council, stating that the agreement was necessary to “keep the project on time, keep it on budget, and complete it in a safe manner.” According to the study, the PLA “failed on all three counts.”
Under the PLA, contractors were forced to recognize “the union as the sole and exclusive bargaining representative of all craft employees,” and “hire employees for covered work through the job referral systems offered by each signatory local union.” The study found that as a result, many local merit shop contractors did not bid on the project, which reduced competition and increased the cost of the project.
“One might think that completing a project on budget, on time and safely would be the goal for each and every construction project, but apparently the Polk County Board of Supervisors felt these goals could not be accomplished on the Iowa Events Center project without a project labor agreement,” the study concludes. “Having been granted the PLA, was the Iowa Events Center completed on budget, on time and safely? No. Instead, workers were frozen out of the opportunity to work, businesses were not allowed to compete, and the taxpayers were forced to pay even more for the Iowa Events Center construction because of the cost overruns of the project. The project labor agreement for the Iowa Events Center project was an unnecessary burden on the workers, businesses and taxpayers of Iowa.”
Click here to download a copy of “The Project Labor Agreement for the Iowa Events Center: An Unnecessary Burden on the Workers, Businesses and Taxpayers of Iowa.”
For more information, visit the Public Information Institute website at http://www.limitedgovernment.org.