2019/10/16 Council Agenda Packet

workers,walked off the job Aug. 21 [2018]."29 Although the PLA purports to protect the project from strikes,"[s]cheduled work... on 405 and at the southern portal of the new Highway 99 Tunnel in Seattle was also scrapped because of the strike,"according to a story in the Seattle Times.3° The project has been "plagued by delays and mishaps, including the injury of four workers when an elevator shaft collapsed,and a nearly two-year halt of its huge tunnel boring machine,Bertha."31 In 2015, several workers at the worksite claimed that employees bribed supervisors and foreman with bottles of alcohol to get overtime and other perks, also claiming that workers were drunk at the worksite and subject to sexual harassment.32 The PLA was not effective in inoculating the bore tunnel project from a work stoppage due to the strike or provide for a safe work environment. The evidence is mixed, however. A 2011 report prepared for Sound Transit found four strikes lasting a total of 74 days during work on their public transportation expansion project. The report found that the project work schedules were unaffected by the strikes due to the PLA.33 Both King County and the City of Seattle approved rules promoting the use of PLAs and CWAs. On July 14, 2010, the Metropolitan King County Council Labor Policy Committee adopted King County labor policy LP 2010-031,which directed the county to explore the use of a PLA for county projects when appropriate.34 The policy establishes four criteria for deciding to use a PLA. 29 Mike Rosenberg,Construction Workers Strike Delays Projects across Western Washington,Seattle Times,(August 29,2018)https://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/artic1e217535290.html. 30 Ibid 31 Susannah Frame,'Booze-for-perks Scheme Alleged at Seattle Tunnel Site,"King-5-TV,in USA Today, (February 26,2015)https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/02/26/booze-for-perks- se a ttle-tunnel/24042935/. 32 thid. 33"Sound Transit Project Labor Agreement Study,"Agreement Dynamics,(2011), https://www.soundtransit.org/sites/default/files/documents/project-labor-agreement-study-201112.pdf. 34 Establishing Procedures and Criteria for the Appropriate Use of a Project Labor Agreement(PLA)on Major King County Capital Construction and Alternative Delivery Projects,King County,Policies,Public Rules,and Interlocal Agreements(May 10,2013) https://www.kingcounty.gov/about/policies/executive/peraeo/per131 aeo.aspx. The Anticompetitive Effects of Project Labor Agreements on Public Construction in Washington State 13