Valley Water and the Santa Clara and San Benito Counties Building and Construction Trades Council entered into a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) on January 11, 2022. The PLA applies to Valley Water public works projects with an engineer’s estimate, or a cumulative awarded bid amount, that exceeds two million dollars ($2,000,000).
A PLA is a multi-employer, multi-union pre-hire agreement designed to systematize labor relations at a construction site. Pre-hire agreements are collective bargaining agreements providing for union recognition, compulsory union dues, and mandatory use of union hiring halls prior to the hiring of any employees. These agreements set out the terms under which building trades unions agree not to strike or picket the job, thus potentially avoiding construction delays.