A revised version of legislation seeking project labor agreements for large school construction projects gained State Senate approval, before budget mark ups begin with the Joint Finance Committee.
State Senator Jack Walsh said SB 272 will create protections and stability on school projects, which are hard to create without a project labor agreement. Right now, school projects don’t require these labor agreements.
Walsh said PLAs offer, "workers wages and benefits, scheduling, overtime, and solutions for labor disputes."
He revised the bill so it would require these contracts for projects that cost more than $5 million, rather than the original $1 million.
He said the PLA requirement will ensure that Delaware workers are working school construction jobs, "because project managers will have to hire from local union halls in our state."
When the bill was originally introduced in committee, hundreds of contract workers attended to speak on behalf of themselves and their employers.
Opponents said the bill creates barriers to bidding on public projects. Senate Minority Whip Brian Pettyjohn asked Walsh what problem the bill fixes in school construction in Delaware.
A majority of contractors in Delaware are not union members, with one analysis measuring just over 10% of Delaware's contract workers were union members in 2023. According to another study measuring union membership from 1970 to 2000, Delaware's membership looks to be near-level with where it was in the study's last year of analysis.
"Don't we have a highly skilled workforce right now that are working on these projects?" Pettyjohn asked.
Walsh said the bill gets more to worker protections.
It passed the Senate with bipartisan support. It now heads to the House for consideration.
The bill stands to have a sizable economic impact, as the state allocates millions of dollars to capital projects at public schools every year.
The DOE has more than $200 million in capital school funding projects ongoing in fiscal year 2027, though the state hasn't approved any new certificates of necessity in the last two years.
Project labor agreements establish terms of employment on one or more construction projects. It asks all contractors working on a project to adhere to conditions of employment for people on the project, regardless of union status.
Walsh said nonunion contractors can bid on these projects. And workers only have to participate in a PLA while on the public works project.
“If nonunion contractors refuse to bid the work, then that’s their prerogative," Walsh said. "If they refuse, they’re only hurting their own workers, preventing them from reaping these benefits..."
The revised bill says a PLA would be required when two or more union contractors bid on a project. But if no union contractors bid, then no PLA is required.
