NJ company says key agreement could keep it from bidding on Gateway rail tunnel
At issue is a project labor agreement for the New Jersey Surface Alignment program, a project that includes building the tracks, rail bridges and related facilities between Tonnelle Avenue in North Bergen and County Road in Secaucus. The project is one of 10 that make up the $16 billion Hudson River program that includes building a new two-track tunnel and rehabilitating the old one carrying trains to and from New York Penn Station.
Rob Harms, the CEO of George Harms Construction Co., accused the Gateway Development Commission of excluding the Farmingdale-based firm from being able to bid on the project because Harms is organized with the United Steelworkers union, which is not included in the project labor agreement, or PLA.'Harms was deemed qualified to bid, and yet the commission still moved forward with a PLA that excludes the very union we are organized with,' Harms said during the public speaker portion of the July 28 meeting. If the project labor agreement, which is not yet finalized, were to proceed without including the United Steelworkers, 'Harms would be unable to bid on the project.'
The project labor agreement is between the Gateway Development Commission and the Hudson County Building and Construction Trades Council, which includes Laborers Locals 472 and 172; Operating Engineers Local 825; Iron Workers Local 11; Masons Locals 4 and 5; Teamsters Local 560; Dockbuilders Local 1556 and Electricians Local 164.
The reason for using PLAs is to 'create consistent, predictable rules for the terms and conditions of employment on a construction project,' said Catherine Rinaldi, the Gateway Development Commission's executive vice president. 'PLAs benefit workers and will enable the GDC to build efficiently by giving contractors access to an experienced, well-trained pool of workers who can quickly mobilize and create opportunities for apprenticeship programs.'
PLAs have been used on all previous contracts let by the Gateway Development Commission, including the Palisades Tunnel Project.
Corinne Burzichelli DeBerry, an attorney from Fox Rothschild who represents George Harms Construction Co., said excluding the United Steelworkers from the project labor agreement for the New Jersey Surface Alignment program would violate New Jersey's competitive bidding laws.
When the United Steelworkers union, or USW, "was excluded from the PLA for the Palisades Tunnel Project, Harms raised its concerns for fear that the USW would be excluded in the future,' Burzichelli DeBerry said.
'Harms was told, in no uncertain terms, that the reason for the exclusion was because they were not pre-qualified and none of the contractors that were pre-qualified were organized with USW," she said. "This time, Harms is pre-qualified, and it appears the USW will be excluded again, which will prevent Harms from bidding this contract.'
Harms has been involved with multiple lawsuits over similar issues with other agencies that use PLAs that don't include the local chapter of the United Steelworkers, including the New Jersey Turnpike Authority and the Delaware River Joint Toll Bridge Commission.
The Gateway Development Commission is overseeing the new two-track tunnel being constructed between North Jersey and Manhattan, which is meant to provide more reliable service along the Northeast Corridor for NJ Transit and Amtrak riders entering and leaving Manhattan's Penn Station.
Once it is completed, work will begin to rehabilitate the existing tunnel, which is more than a century old and was badly damaged by Superstorm Sandy. Frequent malfunctions in the old tunnel cause delays for riders.
Executive session for an hour
After hearing the Harms concerns during the Gateway Development Commission's public comment portion of the July meeting, the board unexpectedly went into executive session for nearly an hour.
When the board returned to vote on the agenda items, the item involving the project labor agreement for the surface alignment project was verbally amended to require the Gateway Development Commission's CEO, Thomas Prendergast, to return to the board for a vote on a final form of the labor agreement, said Alicia Glen, a co-chair of the commission, who read the amendment aloud during the meeting.
It was approved unanimously by the board.
"A project labor agreement is one in which you're trying to establish a level playing field for work rules and wage rates so all the parties that are submitting bids for the work are getting it from the same sheet of music," Prendergast told NorthJersey.com. "It's a practice that the industry has been following for quite some time, especially for a large infrastructure project."
It's not clear when Prendergast will come back to the board with the final wording of the PLA.
A second PLA for a different project, which was also approved during the July 28 meeting, did not receive an amendment.
Asked about the issue after the meeting, commission spokesman Stephen Sigmund said, 'The board listened to some of the public comment today and, in that case, wanted to look at the final form of the PLA.'
He added that no one is excluded from bidding on work.
'PLAs are obviously a very important part of having work rules and wage rules in place that give us certainty and that helps keep the project on scope, schedule and budget,' Sigmund said. 'We've had PLAs on each of the contracts so far. We'll have them on the contracts going forward.'
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ firm says it could be blocked from Gateway rail tunnel bid
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