On Monday, July 22, 2024, the Bloomington City Council approved a new project labor agreement. The agreement applies to public works contracts exceeding $50,000. The project labor agreement is modeled on one already in use in Springfield, Ill., that has yielded good results.

Impacts on the local community are expected to be quite positive. “The new ordinance promises to ensure that public projects are completed efficiently and to high standards. It promotes fair wages and local hiring, which boosts our local economy,” said Bloomington City Manager Jeff Jurgens. “Additionally, by reducing labor disputes and delays, it ensures that taxpayer money is spent wisely, delivering high-quality infrastructure that benefits the entire community,” he continued.

There is an exception for projects that would not advance the City’s interests of cost, efficiency, quality, safety, timeliness, skilled labor force. and labor stability and the City’s policy to advance minority-owned or female-owned business, or businesses utilizing minority and female workers. But when put into place, the agreements will bring a number of benefits, including procedures for resolving disputes, guarantees against strikes or lockouts, and providing a reliable source of skilled and experienced labor.

“In the next 20 years, the city of Bloomington is expected to spend over $1 billion on public works projects,” said Mike Raikes, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 197 Business Manager/Financial Secretary and President of the Livingston and McLean Building Trades. “Current union members and future union members will benefit from the PLA ordinance. We will be able to bring new members into our ranks through the apprenticeship programs and give them experience working on critical local infrastructure.”

Jurgens also stressed the value of having well-trained workers, and the key role of Unions in continuing to deliver that workforce. “With the current labor shortage, it’s crucial to have guarantees and local unions ready to train and supply labor. This ensures we have the skilled workforce needed for our city’s future projects, benefiting both the community and our long-term planning efforts,” he said.

Engaging the frontline workers was crucial to the success of the agreement. “Mike Raikes and I had been meeting with the city managers for over a year, and I would report back our members at our monthly meeting with updates as talks progressed,” said Ron Paul, Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Local 362 Business Manager. “This vote happened, not because of the work Raikes and I did, but through our members getting out to vote for Union-friendly council members in the districts in which they live.”

While city council meetings are generally not known for attracting a crowd, this one was packed with supporters of the agreement from local labor unions, and cheers were heard when the agreement was approved.

“There were council members on the fence about approving the ordinance however when looking at the amount of LIUNA orange shirts in the audience there was no way they were going to vote against the ordinance,” said Raikes. “The significance of a unanimous vote was huge especially that we will be asking Normal, Ill., to pass the same ordinance.”

For good reason, there’s a lot of attention right now on national politics and the upcoming Presidential election – but work like this demonstrates that staying involved in local politics is critical as well. “By electing local officials that share our views and look out for our members we can accomplish anything, and we showed that Monday night,” said Paul. “I want to thank the Union members who trust their leadership when election time rolls around. When organized labor votes … organized labor wins!”