PITTSBURGH – Builders and contractors have initiated litigation against Allegheny County Community College and others to enjoin them from enforcing a “project labor agreement” within the Pittsburgh Regional Building Trades Council that would force them to unionize.
The plaintiffs filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania on May 1 against Allegheny County Community College, its president Quentin B. Bullock and the Pittsburgh Regional Building Trades Council.
The plaintiffs and defendants are all based in Allegheny County.
“The college’s ‘project labor agreement’ disqualifies businesses from receiving contracts or subcontracts for construction work unless they recognize a union affiliated with the Pittsburgh Regional Building Trades Council as the exclusive representative of their employees – even if the contractor’s employees have chosen not to unionize, and even if the contractor’s employees have chosen a different union to represent them,” according to the suit.
The college imposes this “project labor agreement” on each of its construction projects, and it imposes these requirements on every contractor and subcontractor engaged in on-site construction work; requirements which the plaintiffs say violate the 1st and 14th amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the National Labor Relations Act and state laws pertaining to competitive bidding.
Project labor agreements are also banned in 25 states, the suit says.
The plaintiffs are seeking a declaration that the agreement violates the 1st and 14th Amendments to the U.S. Constitution, the National Labor Relations Act and state laws pertaining to competitive bidding, the issuing of an injunction that prevents the defendants from enforcing the agreement, costs, attorney’s fees and other relief the court may deem just, proper or equitable.
The plaintiffs are Associated Builders & Contractors of Western Pennsylvania, Arrow Electric Inc., Hampton Mechanical Inc., Lawrence Plumbing LLC, R.A. Glancy & Sons Inc., Westmoreland Electric Services, LLC, Gregory H. Oliver Jr., Daniel Vincent Glancy, Robert L. Casteel, Jason Phillip Boyd and Robert A. Glancy IV. They are represented by Thomas E. Weiers Jr. in Pittsburgh.
The defendants are represented by Christopher R. Opalinski, Edward R. Noonan, F. Timothy Grieco and Sean J. Donoghue of Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott in Pittsburgh and Washington, D.C. and Joshua M. Bloom in Pittsburgh.
U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania case 2:20-cv-00649
From the Pennsylvania Record: Reach Courts Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com