It may have taken two years, but construction workers in Meriden, Conn., finally will have access to well-paying quality construction jobs on two major renovation projects at local high schools after the Meriden City Council voted this week to uphold a project labor agreement (PLA).

Project labor agreements are pre-hire agreements between labor and management that require all construction jobs be filled by local workers, include diversity requirements, establish wages and work rules covering overtime, working hours and dispute resolution and ensure that safety guidelines on the job site are enforced.

The bumpy road to this unexpected victory started in June 2011, when members of International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART) Local 40 approached the city about using a PLA for both projects and were rejected. Working with other members of the Greater Hartford-New Britain Building and Construction Trades Council and allies from the Working Families Party, they launched a petition drive to put the issue before the City Council. After 1,500 people showed up at a hearing presented by Jeremy Zeedyk, an organizer from Local 40, on the PLA in March of 2012, the council voted 6–6—and Meriden Mayor Michael Rohde broke the tie in favor of the PLA.

Yet the future of the PLA for the $111.8 million project at O.H. Platt High School fell into jeopardy once again in June when several bids on the project came in significantly over-budget. In response, the City Council passed a resolution rescinding the PLA. Yet after calls for an investigation into the price increase, a majority of the council determined that the PLA was not responsible for the price increase and voted 6–5 to uphold the mayor's veto.

The decision was a major victory for Meriden workers, says Luke Ford, a business agent at Local 40.

A PLA is the only way we can maximize employment of Meriden workers on this project. This is the best return on my tax dollars and the tax dollars of other Meriden residents. You can go and talk to any economist—the fact is that if you have the ability to employ local people on city projects, you'll keep those tax dollars in the community. They might spend it on the local hair dresser or the local plumber—either way, it stays in town.

Ford praised the support of those who helped move the PLA:

Particularly our local elected leaders who put their careers on the line for this job and the state representatives and state senators who have passed legislation on our behalf. We're proud to be bringing good jobs to Meriden workers.

Local construction worker John Muli agrees. The lifelong Meriden resident, who had been unemployed for seven months, was able to find employment as a member of General Laborers Union Local No. 455 once the PLA was approved for Francis T. Maloney High School. "I lost my health insurance while I was unemployed," he recently told the Meriden Record-Journal: 

Now I'm trying to build my credit back up to get my health insurance back. Getting on here, it feels like everything's going my way.