Trades get 2 wins in PLA decisions
As time ran out on the year 2002, two building trades councils scored major victories in the fight to uphold project labor agreements (PLAs) on public works projects.

The most recent came on Dec. 27, when the Ohio Supreme Court unanimously struck down a 1999 Ohio law that prohibited public authorities from using PLAs on public works projects in the state.

A month earlier, the Iowa Supreme Court ruled that a PLA entered between Polk County and the Central Iowa Building and Construction Trades Council did not violate the state’s competitive bidding and right-to-work laws. The AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department assisted on both efforts.

“We are hopeful that our recent victories on this critical issue bode well for other pending cases and for protecting the rights of all building trades workers,” said Building Trades Department President Edward Sullivan.

PLAs are vital to the employment of unionized building trades workers. Projects worth billions of dollars have been performed under PLAs in Michigan alone in recent years, and any court precedents that could ban their use would be most unwelcome.

The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule soon on a PLA case brought by the building trades. The building trades went to the high court to appeal a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which upheld President Bush’s Executive Order banning PLAs on federally funded projects.

Internet-ready electrical wiring?
There is another potential source of broadband Internet connection besides cable television, satellite and phone lines – and your home or business is already set up for it.

The Engineering News Record reports that several systems designed to piggyback high-speed data transmissions over electrical lines are in field trials around the nation. Some utility customers in Alabama, Georgia, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York are able to surf the web with Internet connections that plug into any wall outlet.

Computer users can already purchase networking systems that utilize wiring in a home or business, and the Internet connection is based on the same theory. The Internet is available at a fiber-optic node within a mile or two of the end user, and data is converted through a processor and routed over existing medium- and low voltage lines for “last mile” distribution to customers.

Further spread of such Internet connectivity would depend on more widespread use of the fiber-optic system.

“The actual technology itself, I am not concerned with. I’m pretty sure it’s going to work. But we still have to understand the business and cost model,” Lief Ericson, business development manager for Southern Telecom, Atlanta told the ENR.

“The opportunity could be significant if the vendors really pull the technology to a stage where the utilities feel comfortable deploying it. There are very few competitors in the last mile arena, just regional Bells and cable companies. This is a third wire into the house.”

Electric utilities are intrigued because such a system would leverage lines already installed and would open up new control and communication potential for utility uses, such as remote meter reading and household and commercial energy management.