P3 Tapestry: Owners, workers, residents, Canadians

“Innovative” school construction funding has threads of labor movement, public ownership, and Hyattsville politics

Hyattsville’s city government and residents have been closely involved in a countywide public-private partnership (P3) school construction initiative. Two of the city’s five public schools are included in the program so far, with Hyattsville Middle in Phase I and Hyattsville Elementary in Phase II, and the city’s Educational Facilities Committee — formerly the Educational Facilities Task Force — receives regular updates from county staff. In addition to city politics, the P3 program, also called the Blueprint Schools Program, and not to be confused with the statewide Blueprint for Maryland’s Future has touched on labor, ethics, and public ownership.

Project labor agreement and wage theft allegation

After multiple wage theft lawsuits in Phase I of the P3 program, the school board mandated that the Phase II developer, PGC Education Collective, negotiate a project labor agreement (PLA). While local labor union members advocated for a PLA at board meetings and in the press, some Hyattsville residents opposed their efforts, including Hyattsville Elementary PTA leaders and members of the Hyattsville Educational Facilities Committee.

For Phase II, construction labor unions asked the school board to require the developer to execute a project labor agreement (PLA), also known as a community workforce agreement. PLAs are project-wide collective bargaining agreements that cover union and non-union workers, often specifying pay rates, benefits, safety-related provisions as well as requiring workers to refrain from striking. The AFL-CIO, a national federation of unions, supports PLAs and says that they benefit workers and taxpayers. Associated Builders and Contractors, a trade association of non-union construction business owners, opposes PLAs, calling them “anti-competitive and costly.” The Biden administration has expanded the use of PLAs in federal projects, and Governor Wes Moore signed an executive order supporting the use of PLAs in state projects.