Virginia is a proud right-to-work state, so the resolution passed last week by the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority requiring a project labor agreement for construction of Phase 2 of the Dulles Rail project was a slap in the face of all working Virginians. Adding insult to injury, the MWAA board did not provide adequate public notice prior to the 11-2 vote. The precise terms of the PLA resolution remain undisclosed, but a draft indicates that contractors and subcontractors will be required to submit to union rules and working conditions as a precondition for bidding on Phase 2 – unlike Phase 1, in which Dulles Transit Partners agreed to a voluntary PLA after the bidding process was completed.
Since only about 4 percent of Virginia construction workers are unionized, about half of all qualified Virginia construction firms will be discouraged from bidding on Phase 2, Ben Brubeck, director of labor and federal procurement for the Arlington-based Association of Builders and Contractors, told The Examiner. This means that most ofthe workers hired to build the Metrorail extension will be union members from other states. That’s not the only problem. Brubeck estimates that the PLA will raise the cost of the project between 10 and 20 percent, adding an estimated $350 million to $750 million because of higher labor costs and reduced competition. This is in addition to the $330 million MWAA has already elected to spend on an underground station at Washington Dulles International Airport, raising the total cost of the financially questionable project by more than $1 billion.
