Courthouse News reports on a complaint filed by unions against Michigan Governor Rick Snyder's PA 98, the anti-Project Labor Agreement legislation which "bans the state from awarding public contracts to any group that uses or even encourages unionized labor."
Project Labor Agreements are currently in effect in all 50 states, including Michigan, and seek to ensure safety and wage standards, minority and local hire requirements and training programs for new workers to ensure a robust construction sector moving forward. From the Courthouse News piece:
The 10-page complaint against Snyder says that section 5(a) of the law prohibits Michigan and all state governmental units "from entering into or expending funds under a contract for the construction, repair, remodeling or demolition of a public facility, if the contract or any subcontract under the contract contains a term that requires or encourages bidders, contractors or subcontractors to enter into or adhere to agreements with a collective bargaining organization relating to the construction project or other related construction projects."
"The prohibition in 2011 P.A. 98 against employees in the construction industry seeking to negotiate and implement project labor agreements and other pre-hire agreements through their bargaining representatives for use on public works projects in the state of Michigan also constitutes impermissible state interference with the 'free play of economic forces' that Congress intended to govern construction industry labor relations," the complaint states.