In an executive order signed Dec. 18, Oregon Governor Tina Kotek is directing all state agencies – when they award any construction contract or commit funds to a construction project – to require contractors and subcontractors to sign project labor agreements (PLAs) with building trades unions, committing to use union labor. The PLAs have to include a no-strike guarantee and binding procedures for resolving labor disputes, and can’t exclude non-union firms from signing on temporarily. The order applies to all projects where labor is 15% or more of the total cost, but agency directors can ask the governor for exemptions for short-term emergency work and projects that involve only one trade.