Contrary to your assertion in your lead editorial on July 24, project labor agreements do not “effectively exclude” nonunion workers and nonunion firms from working on these projects (“In new project labor deal, Mass. taxpayers lose again”). Nonunion workers can and often do find employment on jobs done under project labor agreements. When so employed, however, they work under the terms and conditions of the union contract, which generally provides them with better wages, job safety, and other working conditions.
In addition, nonunion firms are not excluded from bidding on work done under a project labor agreement. Such firms simply need to become temporarily signatory to the union contract that is in effect during the duration of that job.
The most likely reason that many nonunion firms exclude themselves from project labor agreement jobs is that they don’t want their employees to get a taste of how much better things are when working under conditions collectively determined by workers and employers, as opposed to those unilaterally determined by a boss concerned solely with the bottom line.