BY: Ed Friedrich
POSTED: 5:25 PM, Nov 23, 2015
UPDATED: 9:43 AM, Nov 24, 2015
SILVERDALE – U.S. Labor Secretary Tom Perez toured Naval Base Kitsap’s nearly completed second explosives handling wharf and plans to tout it as a model for other military projects.
The wharf, where missiles are loaded onto Trident submarines, is near budget and on schedule to be finished in January. The Navy awarded a $331 million contract to EHW Constructors four years ago. Today’s cost is $345 million, said Navy Region Northwest spokeswoman Leslie Yuenger.
It is being built using a Project Labor Agreement – a pre-hire collective bargaining agreement negotiated between a project’s prime contractor and labor organizations that sets basic terms and work conditions. PLAs typically require that employees be referred through union halls, that nonunion workers pay union dues while on the project and that the contractor follow union rules on pensions, work conditions and resolving disputes.