Obama Gives More to Labor

President Obama issued another labor-friendly executive order on Friday, giving agencies the authority to require that contractors enter into labor agreements to prevent disputes that could delay the projects. It's a victory for labor organizations, and while the order doesn't mandate that labor agreements be used on all projects, one provision of the order does open up the possibility of broader implementation down the road. One section of the order reads:

The Director of OMB, in consultation with the Secretary of Labor and with other officials as appropriate, shall provide the President within 180 days of this order, recommendations about whether broader use of project labor agreements, with respect to both construction projects undertaken under Federal contracts and construction projects receiving Federal financial assistance, would help to promote the economical, efficient, and timely completion of such projects.

So keep an eye out for future developments sometime this summer.