by Carson Swick (originally at baltimoresun.com)
The Baltimore Board of Estimates approved a labor deal Wednesday that Mayor Brandon Scott said will prioritize local hiring and expand apprenticeship opportunities for construction employees, but not before some in the contracting world said the deal was illegal and could actually hurt workers.
The agreement between the city and the Baltimore-D.C. Metro Building Trades Council was Baltimore’s first-ever Project Labor Agreement (PLA), which is a type of collective bargaining agreement that governs employment terms between building trade unions and contractors. It will cover the rehabilitation of three Baltimore City Department of Public Works pumping stations — Dundalk (at a cost of $31.66 million), Ashburton ($60 million to $70 million) and Quad Avenue ($6 million to $8 million) — as well as the agency’s Sparrows Point Alternative Outfall project for an additional $31 million, bringing the total estimated price tag to between $128.66 million and $140.66 million.
