The transportation spending bill that includes funds for the new Lake Champlain Bridge sailed through the House without any opposition.
But debate raged in the hallways and cafeterias over a package of labor standards for workers on the $110 million project.
At issue is a project labor agreement that would require union work rules on the job site and union benefits for workers. Union leaders say the rules would mean workers from both the New York and Vermont sides of the lake would be treated the same.
Vermont contractors’ firms are nearly all nonunion, and they say they would effectively be cut out of the work.