Updated May 22 at 3:30 p.m. with the city’s response confirming the contractor’s $6.9 million estimate. This story originally reported that the figure was unverified and that the city had not answered questions about it.
If you’ve scrolled Instagram, Facebook, or YouTube in Alexandria lately, you’ve probably met the orange ad: a board-game graphic, tumbling dice, and a warning that city officials are “playing games with your money.” It’s part of a campaign called “Don’t Get PLAyed Alexandria!” One version features City Manager James Parajon and says officials hid “$7 million in costs from the public.” Another names Mayor Alyia Gaskins. Both push viewers to a website where they can “take action” by telling elected officials to oppose project labor agreements.
Here’s what the fight is actually about — and what’s been established versus alleged.
Who is behind the ads
The ads are paid for by the Virginia Coalition for Fair Contracting & Employee Protection — “Virginians for Fairness” — a 501(c)(4) advocacy group that says it represents more than 1,000 Virginia construction firms opposed to government-mandated PLAs. Its members, listed on its website, are construction-industry trade associations, including the Associated Builders and Contractors of Virginia and the Associated General Contractors of Virginia, along with highway, asphalt and transportation-contractor groups and the Loudoun County Chamber of Commerce. Most member firms are non-union, or “merit shop.” As a 501(c)(4), the coalition lists its member organizations but is not required to disclose its donors. It launched the Alexandria campaign on May 1.
What a project labor agreement is
A PLA is a pre-hire deal between a project’s contractors and one or more unions that sets wages, benefits, work rules and dispute-resolution procedures for a specific public construction job; every contractor and subcontractor on the project agrees to its terms. Virginia law has authorized localities to require PLAs since 2020, when the General Assembly reversed an earlier prohibition…