Hospital Project To Use Project Labor Agreement

POSTED: 5:39 pm EST December 29, 2009
UPDATED: 7:12 pm EST December 29, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS -- Local contractors who say they're being shut out of the $750 million Wishard Memorial Hospital project said Tuesday that union labor doesn't mean the work will get done on time and on budget. While the project is expected to create jobs and stimulate the local construction industry, some contractors contend that 80 percent of local workers are being shut out of the project, a claim that Wishard's CEO denies, 6News' Kara Kenney reported. Wishard is using a Project Labor Agreement, or PLA, for the project. The use of that agreement excludes non-union workers, which make up 80 percent of the local contracting workforce, contractors said.

Matt Gutwein, CEO of Health and Hospital Corp., which operates Wishard, denied workers were being shut out, and said the project will employ both union and non-union labor. "(The PLA) creates a level playing field that gives us real protections to make sure this project gets done on budget and on time," Gutwein said on Monday. "A PLA provides real protections to the taxpayers of Marion County."

But contractors fired back on Tuesday, pointing to a number of major city projects that suffered notorious cost and time overruns, even with a PLA in place. Conseco Fieldhouse came in $8 million over budget, while construction on the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library was more than two years behind schedule and ran $50 million over budget. "It's mostly a political deal. The taxpayers are really not protected," said JR Gaylor, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors, an organization that represents many non-union shops. "The facts don't seem to support his (Gutwein's) contention that this is good for the taxpayer." Others who've worked on major construction projects said the delays with Conseco and the IMCPL were due to other factors, not labor issues. Rich Potosnak served as the project manager for the new terminal at Indianapolis International Airport, a PLA job employing about 90 percent union workers. He said the labor agreement protect against strikes, but not the other unknowns of construction. "A PLA is not a panacea to everything. It does not guarantee a successful project," he said. "Weather is a very common problem. There's no guarantee with the weather." The parking garage is the first project to be bid out for the new hospital, with bids due on Jan. 11. The hospital is set to be completed in 2012.

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