SOUTHERN, CALIFORNIA -- Requirements that construction projects hire only higher paid union laborers are being reviewed in a number of next month's local elections.

Voters in San Diego County will decide whether to prohibit "project labor agreements" that require construction contractors and subcontractors to hire or temporarily unionize their workers, reports The New York Times.

In Oceanside and Chula Vista, CA voters have already prohibited the arragnements.

In practice, contractors and subcontractors pay near union scale and unionize workers for the duration of the project. Opponents of project labor agreements say they inflate construction costs.