Labor & Employment Law

Pipeline Project Creates Thousands of Skilled Construction Jobs

By Mike Hall

More than 13,000 American workers will build the U.S. portion of a 2,000-mile oil pipeline running from Alberta, Canada, to Port Arthur, Texas, under a project labor agreement (PLA) signed this week by four U.S. unions and pipeline builder TransCanada Corp.

Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD), says:

At a time when corporations and industries are seeking to ensure maximum efficiencies and a proper return on their investments, America?s building trades unions are pleased that TransCanada Corporation has recognized that a project labor agreement is a valuable tool to assist them in achieving those important objectives.

PLAs are pre-hire agreements between labor and management. The agreements require all construction jobs to be filled by local workers, include diversity requirements, establish wages and work rules covering overtime, working hours and dispute resolution and ensure that safety guidelines on the job site are enforced.

The four unions involved in the project are the Plumbers and Pipe Fitters (UA), Operating Engineers (IUOE), Laborers (LIUNA) and Teamsters (IBT). All are members of the BCTD. Work is expected to begin in the fall of 2011 and run through 2013.

During the signing ceremony at BCTD?s office, union and company leaders said the pipeline also would create at least 250,000 permanent jobs in as many as 1,000 pumping stations and other spin-offs. And it would cut U.S. dependence on oil imported from sometimes-unfriendly nations.

For a more detailed look at the project, read Press Associates Inc.?s Mark Gruenberg?s account at ILCAInsider.

Full post as published by AFL-CIO NOW BLOG on September 16, 2010 (boomark / email).