An Alaska construction company is mounting a major constitutional challenge to a Biden-era labor mandate, arguing that the federal government has unlawfully tied access to public construction contracts to union participation.
Filed Nov. 5 in federal court, the lawsuit targets a mandate that forces contractors to sign project labor agreements (PLAs) to qualify for federal construction work exceeding $35 million. The challenge argues that the executive branch has no authority to impose such far-reaching labor requirements without Congressional approval.
The lawsuit states the executive branch cannot assume powers “the U.S. Constitution and Congress have not granted,” particularly those imposing “sweeping labor policies that Congress never contemplated or approved.” It adds that unelected regulators “undermine democratic accountability and threaten the individual liberty that the separation of powers was designed to protect.”
The case centers on Bill Slayden, who launched a small plumbing business from his garage in 1979 and grew it into Slayden Plumbing & Heating, Inc., a prominent mechanical contractor with more than 60 employees. Roughly 80% of the company’s revenue is tied to federal construction projects.
But under the PLA mandate, Slayden said he is blocked from bidding on the federal work that sustains his business unless he requires workers to join unions — something they have freely chosen not to do.
The lawsuit says Slayden has already pulled out of two federal bids at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, a financial setback prompted entirely by regulatory changes.
Slayden is represented by the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF) — a national nonprofit that has won 18 cases before the U.S. Supreme Court.
“In recent decades both Democrat and Republican presidents have claimed sweeping authority to impose labor policies that Congress never enacted,” said Kerry Hunt, a PLF attorney. “In their view, the federal Procurement Act delegates unlimited power to pursue whatever labor policy they might like – from raising the minimum wage government contractors must pay to imposing mandates to enter labor agreements with unions. This blatant overreach violates the separation of powers designed to protect our liberty.”
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The regulation stems from Executive Order 14063, issued by President Biden in 2022. It was later turned into binding regulation by the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, and continues to be enforced by the Trump administration.
The order requires contractors to enter union-negotiated PLAs — and as a subcontractor, Slayden “has no right to negotiate these agreements.” Instead, “The company must sign contracts crafted entirely by others, with no leverage or negotiating power.”
PLF argues the policy creates a fundamental conflict between workers’ rights and federal contract access.
The mandate has forced Slayden into a situation where its employees “must affiliate with unions, something they have repeatedly declined to do because Slayden provides a robust benefits package.”
Slayden’s employees receive paid holidays, sick leave, a generous 401(k) match, major medical coverage and profit-sharing bonuses — benefits they worry would be disrupted if forced into unionization.
The legal challenge is positioned as both an economic and constitutional defense — warning that if the White House can rewrite labor policy through regulatory power alone, democratic limits are eroded.
Supporters of the lawsuit say the stakes extend well beyond Alaska — potentially influencing thousands of contractors and millions in federal infrastructure spending nationwide.
For Slayden, however, the issue remains personal: continuing the business he built over four decades without compromising the wishes of his workforce.
Originally reported by Joel Davidson in Alaska Watchman.
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