NEW ROCKVIEW PRISON

Planned use of labor deals angers contractors

By Nick Malawskey

BENNER TOWNSHIP — The proposal to construct a 2,000-inmate state prison in Benner Township drew the ire of local contractors and politicians Monday after an announcement that the state will use project labor agreements when contracting with builders.

About 200 people, most of them local contractors and their employees, gathered at the Benner Commerce Park to oppose the use of the agreements, which they said will exclude non-union firms from bidding for the work.

The prison is expected to cost about $200 million and will be constructed on the grounds of the State Correctional Institution at Rockview.

State Sen. Jake Corman, R-Bellefonte, said he opposes the use of the labor agreements because it would shut local companies and employees out of the bidding process.

“They just want the opportunity to compete for those jobs,” he said. “This is about fairness.”

Under the agreements, if a local firm were to be awarded a contract it would not be able to use its nonunion work force, but would have to draw from a union work force pool, said Anna Fitzsimmons, a spokeswoman with Corman’s office.

“Most of the commercial construction companies in this area are non-union, meaning they will never even have a chance to take part in the bidding process,” Corman said. “My view is that we should let local contractors bid on this and other construction projects so that we can keep the jobs and money here in Centre County.”

Corman was joined by Centre County Commissioner Steve Dershem, who said that the issue is not an anti-labor one, but rather about providing work opportunities for local companies.

“This is about taking food out of the mouths of local families,” he said. “This is not a statement against organized labor.”

Corman and local contractors are asking the state to repeal the decision by the Pennsylvania Department of General Services to use PLAs for the construction of the new state prison.

Ed Myslewicz, a spokesman with the Department of General Services, said the commonwealth chose to use PLAs because of the “aggressive” construction timeline.

Ground for the new prison is expected to be broken by the end of the year, he said, and the state is looking to bring the new facility online as soon as possible.

Myslewicz said the use of labor agreements will “prohibit strikes or other slowdowns or work stoppages” by standardizing the contracting terms among all of the contractors that bid on the project.

Local contractors, he said, will certainly be welcome to bid on the project and the state intends to work with local career agencies to hire workers.

“Provisions for hiring local talent can be added to the agreements,” he said. “So certainly it is our intent to identify and find local labor.”

Nick Malawskey can be reached at 235-3928.