More than 50 construction workers protested Maryland’s Purple Line project Wednesday, saying the contractor hired to complete it has backed off a commitment to hire union labor and provide agreed-upon wages and benefits.
The protesters, organized by the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), said the new construction team led by Spanish firms Dragados and OHL used “misleading tactics” to win the contract without including a promised Project Labor Agreement (PLA). Such a collective bargaining agreement typically commits to using union labor and paying agreed-upon wages and benefits, while also prohibiting strikes, lockouts and other work stoppages.
The original Purple Line construction team, led by Texas-based Fluor, had such an agreement before it quit in fall 2020 over delay-related cost disputes with the state.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Katherine Shaver over at The Washington Post
