President Relaxes His Position on Government-Union Projects

President Bush amended on order Friday that blocked union contracts on government projects, allowing preexisting agreements to go forward with organized labor on the job.

Bush’s action is one of several back-steps in recent days by his administration to undo previous decisions, including one that stopped testing for salmonella in school lunch meat.

The change of heart on union projects came after 2,500 union construction workers descended on Capitol Hill this week to lobby lawmakers and protest the initial decision. Bush’s Feb. 17 executive order barred “project labor agreements” on all federally funded construction projects.

But in a move not favored by unions, the administration has rescinded $4.8 million in grants to 19 nonprofit groups and unions for workers’ health and safety programs to help pay for next year’s budget cuts at the Labor Department.

The agency, under the Clinton administration, announced Jan. 8 it was awarding the money to the groups to develop worker safety and health training programs over three to five years as part of the Susan Harwood Training Grant Program.

But those groups were notified last week that, “because of budgetary circumstances and an evaluation of financial projections for this program, the long-term grants for which they had applied cannot be funded.”

Organized labor said Bush’s actions are part of a continuing assault to punish unions over last year’s election. Unions overwhelmingly favored Bush’s Democratic rival, Al Gore, in the election.

Bush’s budget calls for a 5% cut of $600 million to the Labor Department’s budget in 2002. The $4.8-million grants already were budgeted in the current fiscal year and were to start in April but now will help fund those cuts.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration program was fully funded at $11 million in the current budget. The Bush administration wants to cut it to last year’s level of about $8 million.

The agency also wants to scale back the program to one-year grants and invited the groups to reapply.

On the project labor agreements, among the contracts affected by Bush’s initial decision was the $2.2-billion Woodrow Wilson Bridge on heavily traveled Interstate 95 between Virginia and Maryland. Some officials said ending the union agreement would delay the project and increase costs.

The labor agreements require union-standard work rules, even for nonunion contractors. In exchange, unions agree to provide a continuous work force and promise not to strike.