3 Big Things – How the Biden-Harris administration could impact the construction industry

As a new administration takes over the White House, there’s no doubt we’ll begin to see changes within the construction industry soon. President Joe Biden has been vocal about supporting and developing a skilled workforce and his campaign often focused on providing good union jobs. Here are three notable issues on how a Biden-Harris administration could affect the construction industry.

1. Rollback on Trump executive orders, infrastructure expansion

It’s expected that Biden will reinstate a number of labor-friendly Obamaera executive orders that were undone by President Trump. He’ll also likely immediately rescind some of his predecessor’s executive orders, including those banning diversity training and restricting employment-based visas. Biden has also announced plans for a multi-trillion-dollar infrastructure bill aimed at creating millions of jobs in infrastructure, building construction, energy and other projects.

2. More worker safety enforcement

Getting the COVID-19 virus under control tops the Biden-Harris administration’s priority list. Look for increased production of masks, face shields and other PPE to meet the demands, as well as nationwide mask mandates to help mitigate community spread. It’s likely that Biden will also call on OSHA to establish a set of guidelines detailing how employers must protect their employees from the virus and ramp up penalties for violators.

3. Project labor agreements (PLAS)

Generally speaking, PLAs help everyone meet project goals and are negotiated so that workers are paid at least minimum prevailing wage for the area. Strong PLAs help increase the safety and productivity of a project, and often result in a project coming in on time and under budget. So … where’s the beef? Opponents argue that PLAs are too expensive and restrict the inclusion of smaller unions, among other things. Expect discussion surrounding PLAs to escalate in the coming year.