Dive summary:

• Trade union leaders in the AFL-CIO have switched their hard hats for handshakes in marketing directly to project owners, rather than contractors, to win project labor agreements before bidding begins.
• The head of the labor organization's Building and Construction Trades Department, Sean McGarvey, says the strategy is a change from relying on union contractors to sell the benefits of skilled union members.
• The effort has apparently paid off at least once, with a PLA being agreed to with energy company Dominion Resources for construction of a Maryland export facility for liquefied natural gas.

From the article:

McGarvey is hopeful that current craft shortages, particularly on planned energy and industrial projects across the South, will make owners more receptive to the message and to a well-trained union workforce, despite perceptions of higher costs and disputes. ...