By AGC, NFIB, NWUCA.
SALEM, Ore – March 24, 2025 – Contractors challenging Governor Tina Kotek’s executive order mandating union-only project labor agreements on state construction projects scored a major victory in court today. Marion County Circuit Court Judge Thomas M Hart placed an injunction on Kotek’s order, preventing the state from moving forward with implementing the discriminatory requirements on taxpayer funded projects until the court considers the broader merits of the case.
“The judge’s ruling reinforces what our local contractors have been saying since the order was issued last December,” stated Mike Salsgiver, CEO of the Associated General Contractors, Oregon-Columbia Chapter. “The governor lacks the authority to unilaterally alter Oregon’s system of competitive bidding and open and fair competition.”
By granting the injunction the court found that contractors were likely to succeed in their efforts as well as suffer irreparable harm if agencies were required to include union-only requirements in state construction contracts. Judge Hart’s ruling prevents the implementation of project labor agreements while the case is still pending.
The Associated General Contractors, Oregon-Columbia Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors, Pacific Northwest Chapter, Northwest Utility Contractors Association, the National Federation of Independent Business, along with thirteen Oregon contractors are jointly challenging the executive order.
“PLAs inflate the cost of taxpayer-funded construction projects by artificially reducing the number of companies, including locally owned family businesses, who are able to do the work,” explained Jenny Dixson, Executive Director of the Northwest Utility Contractors Association and another of the plaintiffs in the case. “Worse, they prevent the vast majority of Oregon construction workers from working on projects financed with their own tax dollars.”
“Our members appreciate Judge Hart’s ruling and his common-sense review of the facts,” Laurie Kendall, President of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Pacific Northwest Chapter said. “The ruling protects the rights of all contractors – union and non-union – to compete.”
“NFIB’s small business members welcome today’s decision,” said Anthony Smith, NFIB Oregon State Director. “They’re looking forward to continuing to bid on public projects – and get them built. There are limits to executive power and we’re grateful to the court for this acknowledgment.”
The associations filing suit are made up of both union and non-union contractors. Three of the contractors filing suit are certified women or minority-owned businesses by the state.
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ABOUT AGC
Since 1922, the Associated General Contractors Oregon-Columbia Chapter has served as the voice of the commercial construction industry. With nearly 830 member companies, AGC is the only trade association representing the full range of commercial construction companies, from industrial to building, heavy highway to multi-family residential. The organization provides its members with a forum for the exchange of ideas and services designed to enhance the professionalism of the construction industry, including workers’ compensation and health insurance, legislative and governmental representation, safety management consulting, professional education, and training and workforce development programs.
ABOUT NWUCA
The Northwest Utility Contractors Association is a nonprofit trade association that represents the best interests of contractors engaged in the construction of utility lines, excavation, site work, and trenchless technology, and associate members that support the industry throughout Oregon and Southwest Washington. Their mission is to preserve the identity and common interests of the utility contracting industry; promote better relations between utility contractors and governmental agencies, general contractors, labor, engineers and the public at large; foster, encourage and maintain safety standards; represent the common interests of utility contractors at national, state and local levels; and to engage in research to aid the utility contracting industry.
ABOUT ABC
Founded on the merit shop philosophy, the Associated Builders and Contractors, Pacific Northwest Chapter is one of 67 chapters across the country that help members develop people, win work and deliver that work safely, ethically and profitably for the betterment of the communities in which ABC and its members work. ABC’s membership represents all specialties within the U.S. construction industry and is comprised primarily of firms that perform work in the industrial and commercial sectors.
ABOUT NFIB
For more than 80 years, NFIB has been the voice of small business in Congress and in all 50 state capitals. Through advocacy, NFIB gives small and independent businesses a role in governmental decision-making. NFIB is a nonprofit, nonpartisan, and member-driven association. Since its early history, NFIB’s state and federal agendas have been determined through a one-member, one-vote balloting process. The typical NFIB member employs between one and nine people and reports gross sales of about $500,000 a year.
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