An upcoming Fairbanks North Star Borough ordinance could fundamentally change how the borough awards major projects by establishing community workforce development (CWA) requirements.
Ordinance No. 2026-25, co-sponsored by Assembly members Patrick Roach, Nick LaJiness and Garrett Armstrong, would create guidelines for a review of construction projects and promote “training and employment in the building and construction trades.”
Roach told the Assembly during a work session last week that the goal was to build up apprenticeship programs, create a robust review process that reduces project cost overruns and establish grievance and arbitration processes between management and employees on the project.
The CWA process would apply to construction bids that exceed $3.5 million. The review team would consist of borough staff, a member of the Fairbanks Building and Construction Trades Council and a contractor representative mutually agreed upon by contract groups.
“If the team deems it appropriate, then the CWA would control certain aspects of the project agreement, including workforce, grievance and arbitration and project supervision to some degree,” Roach said.
Roach noted that the review process would apply to complex projects and involve multiple trades. A $4 million playground project, for example, likely won’t require a CWA review.
Roach said that 10 of 136 projects in the past five years would have required a CWA review if the process was in place, including the recently awarded animal shelter replacement, the new transit administration/maintenance facility on Tesoro Road and the Noel Wien Library expansion.
“We are talking about a small minority of the entire Public Works projects that would have even gotten a review,” Roach said. Of the 10 projects, six were awarded to companies “that would have hired through union halls.”
The CWA process would require apprentices for at least 15% of the total work hours. He noted that apprentice wages are already enshrined in state law through prevailing wages.
“There will not be additional costs for contractors for funding bona fide apprenticeship programs,” Roach said.
He later stressed the need to improve existing local apprenticeship programs as they will bolster “the supply of highly trained tradespeople for all projects.”
Roach noted that some potential major projects, such as the proposed Alaska natural gas pipeline, will require hundreds or thousands of skilled tradespeople.
“If we don’t have the capacity, municipalities are going to struggle to get their projects done,” Roach said.
Roach said he would rather see the borough take measures now to build a workforce rather than wait until major projects come along.
Beyond training the workforce, Roach said a CWA process creates a streamlined process to settle any grievances, limit worker strife, and thereby avoid any project delays.
Not a new approach
He noted that the City and Bureau of Juneau and Anchorage have similar policies. Juneau started using similar agreements in the 1990s and codified it in 2008.
Anchorage adopted its CWA process in 2018, but suspended it for a few months in January 2019 because it was still drafting a standard template agreement. The suspension was to prevent administrative delays on upcoming projects.
He said the borough used a similar process for the $20 million renovation of Lathrop High School in 1993. Roach noted the project finished on time and on budget.
The labor agreement wasn’t without controversy, prompting a legal challenge that went to the Alaska Supreme Court. The high court ruled on the side of the borough, agreeing a need existed to negotiate and secure “meaningful labor concessions” before the bidding process.
Part of the process
Roach added the borough’s procurement code and constitutional precedents will guide the CWA process.
Borough Attorney Jill Dolan noted a major project won’t require a CWA review team until the borough is prepared to send it out for bid The review team will need to consider government interest, the project’s scope and characteristics and the impact on bidding companies.
“They will have to justify the use of the CWA,” Dolan said. If a CWA is justified, Dolan noted that a minimum set of requirements will have to be met, including apprenticeship hours, a standardized grievance process, and ensuring that registration on the hiring hall’s “out of work” list of member labor organizations shall be open to all, whether or not such individuals are members of the labor organization.
She added a final pre-determined CWA will be released with the project bid, rather than being negotiated later.
A few Assembly members voiced skepticism about the ordinance or the need for the process.
Tammie Wilson asked Roach if any of the 10 projects he listed endured workforce disruptions, labor-related delays or disputes.
Roach didn’t provide specific examples, only noted a CWA doesn’t address a problem but “improves timelines.”
Brett Rotermund expressed concern the ordinance appeared tailored to labor unions.
The ordinance created some heartburn, especially with the state’s largest general contractor association.
Contractors association weighs in
The Associated General Contractors of Alaska, which represents 640 general contractors and industry service providers, told the News-Miner in a statement Friday that it opposes “government-mandated CWAs on taxpayer-funded projects.”
The AGC added that it’s indifferent to contractors’ voluntary use of CWAs and supports both union and non-union apprenticeship programs and contractors rights to use their programs.
“Our primary concern with Ordinance No. 2026-25 is that it would require qualified local contractors and subcontractors to change established labor practices, benefit programs, and workforce relationships as a condition of performing public work,” AGC stated.
The association added that such requirements would discourage “qualified local firms from competing, inevitably reduce competition and increase project costs without necessarily creating new workers or expanding apprenticeship capacity.”
AGC also argued that efforts to train a workforce should be led by employers, labor groups and educational institutions rather than “imposed through public procurement requirements.”
The Assembly meets at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Juanita Helms Administration Center, 907 Terminal St. All public hearings on ordinances are scheduled for after 7 p.m.