Fairbanks weighs union labor agreements on its big construction projects

The Fairbanks North Star Borough would start requiring union-negotiated labor agreements on its big construction projects, under an ordinance up for public hearing Thursday.

Any borough project over $3.5 million would go to a review team that decides whether to attach a community workforce agreement, and where it does, the winning contractor and every subcontractor would have to sign. The agreement is a binding labor contract negotiated among the borough, the local building trades council and the prime contractors, typically with terms favoring local hiring from high-unemployment neighborhoods and communities near the project. Any such agreement in Fairbanks would have to open union hiring halls to nonmembers.

Assembly members Patrick Roach, Garrett Armstrong and Nick LaJiness sponsor the measure. It's modeled closely on Anchorage's, adopted in 2019, which the sponsors copied without a review clause Anchorage struck earlier this year. Anchorage's own findings acknowledged the tradeoff: these agreements can raise costs and thin the field of bidders on large public jobs.

The Fairbanks review team would seat borough staff, the trades council and a contractor representative, and would be required to weigh the impact on bidders, especially benefit costs.

The contractors' lobby has already staked out its position. "Private parties can and should be free to negotiate labor arrangements that work for them," Alicia Maltby, head of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alaska, said at a listening session last month. "Our concern is when public policy requires a PLA regardless of whether that model is appropriate for every component of a project."

The ordinance's own findings cite a shortage of skilled tradespeople and argue that the apprenticeship terms in these agreements would grow the pool of bidders over time. No sponsor statement or administration position accompanies it.

The hearing is Thursday evening at the borough administration center. Testimony is limited to three minutes.