America's Building Trades Unions Benefit Power Producers and Communities, a Feature of "Industry Today" on Industrialinfo.com

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--The ability of America's Building Trades Unions to deliver projects on time and on budget has encouraged We Energies, the utility energy segment of Wisconsin Energy Corporation (NYSE:WEC) (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), to use project labor agreements for recent large projects at the utility's power plants. We Energies redesigned the 1930s-era, coal-fired Port Washington Power Station to use natural gas, and a massive scrubber installation is in the process of being wrapped up at the Elm Road Generating Station in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Both projects used project labor agreements (PLAs) with America's Building Trades Unions to ensure that the highest value was delivered during project construction.

Mark Stone, vice president for major project generation at Wisconsin Energy, has overseen both of the projects. Stone states that PLAs have helped deliver quality workmanship and a safe working environment for the projects. "Our ability to cut costs, to keep the price of these projects low and deliver quality, good-running plants that require less maintenance obviously keeps our cost of electricity down. When we keep our price for energy down to our customers, it allows them, particularly in the manufacturing arena, to keep their costs down and makes us more competitive as a country in key industries," said Stone. "The fact that we are using Union labor and accomplishing our projects below budget or on budget helps immensely."

The use of local Union labor also has a positive outcome for the community. By employing local workers, wages are kept within the region, having a ripple effect on residents and other businesses, ranging from increased purchases of consumer goods to a higher tax base.

"We come to work on time. We come to work with skill and the ability to get the project done on time," says Tom Bennett, president of Teamsters Local 200 in Milwaukee. "Our relationship with the employer is mutual. We both have the same understanding to come up here, get the job done, and try to come in under budget on these jobs--that's the relationship we have with our employers."

In this edition of "Industry Today," learn how project labor agreements with America's Building Trades Unions help forge successful partnerships with contractors and customers--partnerships where all stakeholders are mindful of their roles and responsibilities to each other. Click here to hear this or any of the more 600 previous "Industry Today" webcasts, covering topics important to industry spending, including tends, outlooks and focus segments on specific industries.

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