A Project Labor Agreement (PLA) is an agreement between construction project contractors and labor unions, establishing terms and conditions of employment for specific projects ensuring skilled labor, maintaining safety standards, preventing delays, and promoting local hiring.

PLAs ensure local community projects are done by local contractors and union members. These are people who live in the community, spend their money in the community, and take a great sense of pride knowing that they are playing a part in keeping the community moving forward.

S4864 is groundbreaking legislation that significantly reduces the floor for which a PLA can be used from $5 Million to $1 Million. This ensures that smaller community construction projects will be able to benefit from the same quality and standards as larger projects, while keeping jobs local.

From the gear to the trucks and the stations we have been experiencing from a 40% to 79% increase in costs. For example, every firefighter needs two sets of bunker gear, which must be replaced every 5 years. The cost for one helmet, jacket, protective pants, and a pair of boots went from $3,663 to $5,120 in 6 years. And the cost to purchase a new engine went from $725,000 in 2019 to $1.3 million today.

When lifesaving equipment reaches the end of its useful life it must be replaced for the safety of our residents and our first-responders.

Everybody has heard the horror stories of people paying someone to do a job and then getting stiffed. PLAs keep bad actors from cutting corners and allow honest local contractors to focus on delivering a quality product.

PLAs ensure that projects are completed on time and on budget. They also provide no-strike/no-lockout clauses, dispute resolution procedures, and sometimes local or target hiring goals for disadvantaged workers.

Historically, PLAs have been used on public works projects, such as airports, bridges, and government buildings. Some of America’s greatest sites, such as the Hoover Dam, Disney World, and the Kennedy Space Center were built using PLAs. At home in New Jersey, projects include Met-Life Stadium, Hudson-BergenLight Rail, and many schools and hospitals are built with PLAs in place.

To find out how this will affect you, here is a Property Tax Calculator.