By Sheila Dixon
As director of the Maryland Minority Contractors Association, I’ve seen firsthand how mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) hurt Marylanders—particularly minority contractors.
The members of our organization take pride in their work and hiring process. They prioritize local talent, mentoring younger tradespeople and competing fairly for public projects. That’s how small businesses grow: through hard work, reputation and opportunity. This is done through a competitive bidding process that reins in the cost of already expensive publicly funded infrastructure projects.
That’s why Baltimore City’s PLA for the Water Department’s pumping stations feels like a gut punch. It will shut out companies that are members of the Maryland Minorities Contractors Association, including the workers they employ, and significantly increase the cost of completing the project, risking higher water bills for ratepayers in future years.
Baltimore’s proposed PLA would require contractors to hire their workforce through union halls, shutting out 90 percent of Maryland’s construction workforce, including approximately 10,000 local workers who reside in Baltimore City. To make matters worse, Baltimore City plans to waive existing minority business enterprise (MBE) and women’s business enterprise (WBE) requirements, further harming local firms and their workers. In plain terms, this proposal largely benefits out-of-state workers at the expense of local workers.
This hits MBE and WBE small businesses hard during a challenging economic climate. Many of the businesses we represent built themselves from scratch without relying on union connections or political leverage. They employ local residents—people from Baltimore and surrounding counties—who depend on these jobs to support their families.
At a projected cost of $140 million, the Water Department’s plan to upgrade regional pumping stations is a significant publicly funded infrastructure investment. This is a project that is funded by local customers of the regional water utility, and it is a project that should be completed by local workers. It’s that simple.
This latest proposal by Baltimore City Administration ignores past challenges involving PLAs with Baltimore City funded projects, including the controversial Hilton Convention Center Hotel that has failed to meet revenue expectations after nearly two decades of operation.
Furthermore, it is well documented that projects utilizing PLAs generally cost 12 percent to 20 percent higher than projects completed through the competitive bid process. This is extremely concerning given water customers are already grappling with a projected 30 percent increase in water bills by 2027. Our leaders should be focused on lowering the costs of critical infrastructure projects, not increasing them.
This isn’t about union versus non-union. It’s about access. It’s about affordability. It’s about prioritizing the needs of local residents and workers over political insiders.
When public projects become closed shops, we lose the very diversity and competition that drive our region forward. We lose the innovation and local employment that come from Baltimore firms competing for this work.
Baltimore City’s proposed PLA may look like business as usual to some, but to small firms that make up our membership, it’s a red flag indicating less local hiring and bloated expenditures on the water customer’s dime.
Baltimore can do better. The solution isn’t complicated: open the bidding, hire local, and give our residents a break when it comes to higher water bills.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.