Labor-Management Relations

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed a site stabilization agreement between a labor union and organizations within the Department of Energy's (DOE) Idaho National Engineering Laboratory (INEL), focusing on whether: (1) nonunion contractors had access to DOE Idaho Operations Office (DOE-ID) construction contracts; (2) the agreement's wage rates were higher than typical rates; and (3) the requirements that nonunion contractors use union hiring halls resulted in double benefit payments.

GAO found that: (1) bidding policies and procedures for DOE-ID construction contracts showed that any contractor could submit bids on INEL construction projects, but was required to sign the agreement if awarded a contract; (2) from October 1, 1986, through December 31, 1990, nonunion contractors successfully bid on 86 of the 286 DOE-ID contracts awarded, receiving 8 percent of the total value of the contracts; (3) 8 of 11 surveyed nonunion contractors would not bid on DOE work because they did not want to sign the agreement; (4) the composite wage rate under the agreement was 17 percent higher than the same rate under the Davis-Bacon Act, largely due to a commuting allowance for construction workers; (5) nonunion contractors disliked the provision requiring them to hire new or replacement workers through union hiring halls, since it caused the break-up of regular work crews; and (6) the agreement could require nonunion contractors to pay twice for health and pension benefits for their permanent workers, once through their own plan and once through the union's plan.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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