Norwich ― As the $385 million school construction project gets underway, city officials are considering whether to enter a project labor agreement with local trade unions that would mandate a percentage of Norwich workers be employed on the project.

The proposed agreement with the Norwich-New London Building Trades Council faces staunch criticism from Republican Mayor Peter Nystrom and by the Connecticut Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors.

Trade union leaders and the director of the Connecticut State Building Trades Training Institute, BTTI, gave a lengthy presentation to the Norwich School Building Committee on Dec. 19 on how project labor agreements work. They discussed training high school graduates and the success of projects in 19 Connecticut cities and towns, including New London, Windham and Killingly.

Chris Fryxell from the Connecticut Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors, requested to address the School Building Committee at its Jan. 23 meeting to counter their claims. Nystrom complained that the agreements would stifle bidding competition, raise costs and delay projects.

During their presentation, labor leaders said the opposite has been the experience in projects throughout the state, with projects finishing under budget, on time and with residents earning top wages and spending their money locally.

The School Building Committee is working on designs for the first two of four new elementary schools. The Greeneville and John B. Stanton schools will be built first at an estimated total cost of $126 million.

The School Building Committee and the City Council would have to approve the project labor agreement with the Norwich-New London Building Trades Council. School Building Committee Chairman and Democratic Alderman Mark Bettencourt said the committee should be ready to seek construction bids by the end of 2024, so an agreement would need to be approved before then.

Joe Toner, executive director of the Connecticut State Building Trades Council, told the School Building Committee that the agreement would set a percentage of project workers who are Norwich residents. An initial proposed agreement would have 25% Norwich residents required, with another 5% from New London County.

The Norwich-New London Building Trades Council has lists of members in 13 construction trades who live in Norwich. Union trade workers often travel to jobs, so a Norwich PLA would give them the chance to work close to home with the money they earn spent locally on housing, food, entertainment and other purchases, Toner said.

Skills training and apprenticeships programs are key to the agreement, said Toner and Yolanda Riveras, director of the Connecticut State Building Trades Training Institute. The institute trains apprentices aged 18 to 24 in the building trades at no cost to the students.

The institute will work with Norwich Free Academy and Norwich Regional Technical High School to identify students interested in learning trades. The high school graduates would earn pay as they train, splitting time between work and classes, Riveras said.

Toner said after four years, an apprentice typically earns $75,000 to $100,000 per year plus benefits in the various trades, free of college debt.

“We focus on making sure the workforce development piece is in every PLA,” Toner told the building committee. “The BTTI will come into your community and work with NFA and Norwich Tech to identify students.”

The presenters reject claims that the agreements prevent non-union shops from bidding and raise costs. Toner said state law requires bidders be on a pre-approved bid list and meet prevailing wages equal to the union wages, regardless of whether they are unionized. The PLAs add the required percentage of local workers.

Bettencourt and Board of Education Chairman Mark Kulos, both Democrats, said they support using PLAs for the new schools project. Both touted the guarantee of local workers and the emphasis on training local high school graduates for what could be lifelong careers in skilled trades.

“Unions obviously get members out of it, and I don’t have a problem with that,” Bettencourt said. “I’m concerned with the ancillary benefit, where people get job training and careers out of this and those are forever things.”

New London Mayor Michael Passero, also a Democrat, sent a letter of support to the Connecticut State Building & Construction Trades Council included in its Norwich presentation. Passero said Friday that New London has used PLAs since he was a council member more than a decade ago. The city now uses them for all major city and school construction projects, including the recent $110 million renovation of New London High School and the current construction of the $40 million new recreation center.

“We’ve had great luck,” Passero said. He said requests for proposals specify the projects have PLAs and the construction manager ensures they are followed.

Passero said PLAs have become polarized along political party lines with most Democrats supporting them and virtually all Republicans against them. He said he has not seen any evidence that PLAs raise costs and said municipalities should not be trying to save money by cutting wages and benefits.

The Norwich City Council now has a majority four Democrats and three Republicans, including Nystrom. In his State of the City address Tuesday, Nystrom warned against project labor agreements.

“Such a decision concerning the first two schools to be built will limit the number of small businesses located here in the City of Norwich from participating,” Nystrom said. “This will drive the cost of schools up and it will limit the workforce pool. This is the last thing we want to do when you consider that our state delegation worked so hard to get an increase in our state reimbursement levels.”

c.bessette@theday.com