Building trade unions in Oregon are optimistic they’ll soon come to terms with the University of Oregon and ensure work in the Eugene-Springfield area for at least a decade.

The Oregon Building Trades Council (OBTC) has been in talks with UO‘s lobbyist to secure a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) for work on the – a $1 billion research-based expansion of UO in Eugene.

The agreement could bring 1,300 jobs to Lane County and last 13 years, according to analysis by consultancy ECONorthwest.

“The University of Oregon is committed to prevailing wage and is working to enact a Project Labor Agreement,” a spokeswoman wrote to the 91��Ƶ. “At this time, such a PLA has not been completed and the specific scope of employees who would be covered or for how long is not fully known.”

UO stipulates in all its contracts that builders and related firms adhere to prevailing wage rules, according to the university.

The project was kick-started with a $500 million donation by the Phil and Penny Knight Foundation. In addition, the Oregon Legislature approved $50 million in matching funds during the 2017 session, with a commitment to approve $50 million more the next biennium.

Ground is scheduled to be broken on the Knight Campus this fall, with heavy work expected to start in March 2018 and finish in 2020. Hoffman Construction was named general contractor in January. Initial construction will focus on two 72,000-square-foot buildings to be connected to the north side of campus across Franklin Boulevard.

Due to state requirements, 15 percent of the project workforce must be apprentices, and Hoffman must maximize efforts to involve women and minority subcontractors.

With the project’s high-tech nature and the proximity of UO research facilities, crews will also have to work with extreme caution, said Tim Frew, OBTC executive secretary.

“This is pretty substantial for the Eugene-Springfield area,” said Frew, who lives in Eugene and commutes to Portland. “We feel pretty good about (the PLA), but yeah, nothing’s been signed yet.”

The OBTC had been in discussions with Oregon State University regarding a major hoped-for expansion of its OSU-Cascades campus in Bend. The plan is now on the back burner after a funding request was pared down considerably by the Legislature in its most recent session.

Regardless, there’s much higher education construction work ahead for the 21 trade unions and the approximately 25,000 construction workers represented by the OBTC. A majority of community colleges in Oregon were allotted money by the Legislature in its recent session for seismic retrofits, and many are planning their own construction projects.

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