The news that federal and state agencies had twice raided the $600 million Veterans Administration hospital construction site in Lake Nona, Florida in mid-February for undocumented and illegal workers is something that may have come as a disturbing shock to some peopls, but to America’s Building Trades Unions it was not shocking at all. It’s what we fight against day in and day out in our markets and frankly, it is something that we tried to warn the VA about when we met with them in the Fall of 2010 to urge them to consider the use of project labor agreements for several hospital projects, including the Lake Nona project.
At the outset of our meeting, we urged the VA not to base its construction procurement decisions on specious and utterly non-credible third-party “research” that was based entirely on opinion and conjecture, rather than upon sound empirical data and comparisons. For example, it is confounding how any credible study relating to the construction industry would have failed to factor in workforce productivity when calculating labor costs.
Additionally, by forgoing the use of a Project Labor Agreement on this job (or any of the other VA projects around the nation), we suggested that the VA would be inviting all manner of troublesome and unwanted problems that have become all too common in the construction industry. We specifically brought to the VA's attention that our unions were already being made aware of potential labor and employment violations occurring on the Lake Nona site. We urged the VA to be vigilant about unsavory employment practices by subcontractors, as well as systematic fraud and abuse when it came to paying prevailing wages under the federal Davis-Bacon Act. Perhaps it was the concerns and consistent protestations of our local unions and our members in the Lake Nona/Orlando area that led to these agencies finally taking concerted action.
Ever since President Obama signed an Executive Order encouraging the use of PLAs for federal construction projects, the Building and Construction Trades Department has been attempting to impress upon all federal agencies the importance of obtaining a more thorough understanding of the two distinct business models that constitute the U.S. construction market today.
The first is a business model that is epitomized by the use of PLAs. It is a business model that offers increased jobsite efficiencies through a steady supply of the safest, most highly trained and productive skilled craft workforce known to mankind. And that workforce is developed through almost a billion dollars a year in private investments in apprenticeship programs nationwide that, in turn, develops a workforce that commands a pay and benefits package reflective of their skill and productivity levels. Numerous and rigorous academic studies have shown this model to actually reduce costs for public agencies. Furthermore, the PLA model promotes career training opportunities for local residents – particularly women, minorities and veterans. PLAs continue to be utilized at an increasing rate by the profit-oriented and cost-conscious private sector because of one paramount rationale: they work.
As we have seen with the events in Florida, our PLA model lies in stark contrast to the “race to the bottom” business model, whose advocates are fond of embracing the tenets of “fair and open competition.” But, that begs the question as to whether the systematic use and abuse of undocumented workers - not to mention the growing plague of "misclassification" of employees constitutes “fair and open competition.”
And now that the curtain has been drawn back on what is occurring on the VA site in Florida, we are hopeful that all federal agencies are coming to the realization that this is not an isolated incident. With that in mind, we have urged the VA to direct its Inspector General to immediately initiate exploratory steps in Denver and New Orleans to ensure that similar circumstances and violations are not repeated once those VA projects get fully off the ground.
To be sure, the taxpayers of Florida, as well as taxpayers all across America, are within their rights to be incensed and outraged that their tax dollars are being used to subsidize these types of employment practices under any circumstance; but particularly and especially when we have such high unemployment among American skilled craft professionals; many of whom are proud veterans. America’s Building Trades Unions remain eager to assist the Veterans Administration, and all federal agencies, in making sure that instances such as that which occurred in Orlando are never repeated again.