Judicial assertion: Agencies' attempts to rescind project labor agreement obligations contrary to the decree that initially established them.

Judge Blocks Trump Administration from Exempting Large-Scale Projects from Union Agreements

In a significant development, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras has issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from implementing memos that aim to exempt large-scale Defense Department projects and projects at land ports of entry from the project labor agreement requirements.

The memos, issued by the Defense Department and the General Services Administration (GSA), purport to establish blanket class deviations and class exceptions, a legal maneuver explicitly foreclosed by the language of the executive order as reinforced by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR).

The preliminary injunction applies to the same case in which North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) sued the administration in April 2023, arguing that the memos together violated the Administrative Procedure Act and the terms of the executive order. The lawsuit was filed in response to the memos issued by the Trump administration.

The government argued that the unions lacked standing to sue, but Judge Contreras disagreed. He wrote that the plaintiffs' injury is immediate, particularized, and ongoing, flowing from the memos' effect on federal contract practices for large-scale projects.

The preliminary injunction blocks federal agencies from enforcing the two memos at the heart of the case. It applies to large-scale projects within the Defense Department and projects at land ports of entry governed by the GSA. The injunction does not affect the preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration from implementing the memos for already solicited contract opportunities.

President Biden signed an executive order in 2022 mandating project labor agreements for federal construction projects costing at least $35 million. The Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council implemented the executive order in January 2024.

As of Tuesday afternoon, the Trump administration had not signaled whether it would appeal the ruling. The preliminary injunction was issued by a federal judge in Washington, D.C., last week. However, the judge who issued the greenlight for the two memos allowing "wholesale" exemptions to a Biden-era executive order mandating union agreements on large federal construction projects was not explicitly named in the search results.

This decision marks a significant victory for NABTU and labour unions across the country, ensuring that large-scale projects within the Defense Department and projects at land ports of entry governed by the GSA adhere to the project labor agreement requirements. The case is expected to continue as the Trump administration considers its next steps.

Judicial assertion: Agencies' attempts to rescind project labor agreement obligations contrary to the decree that initially established them.