INDIANAPOLIS -- A battle is brewing over the $750 million Wishard Memorial Hospital project, pitting local contractors against the hospital.

While the project is expected to create jobs and stimulate the local construction industry, some contractors contend that 80 percent of local workers are being shut out of the project, a claim that Wishard's CEO denies, 6News' Kara Kenney reported.

Wishard is using a Project Labor Agreement, or PLA, for the project. The use of that agreement excludes non-union workers, which make up 80 percent of the local contracting workforce, contractors said.

Lithko Contracting is one of many construction companies in Indianapolis facing difficult times. The company would like to build Wishard's new parking garage, but Lithko spokesperson John Jaffe said that to comply with the PLA, they would be forced to unionize or would only be able to use a few of their own workers.

"In Indianapolis, there's only about 20 percent of the contractors that are actually union, so Wishard has effectively excluded 80 percent of the market," Jaffe said. "It's disappointing. We're trying to keep people employed. We don't want to lay off people."

JR Gaylor, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors, an organization that represents many non-union shops, said the PLA is "disrupting free enterprise in a free marketplace."

Matt Gutwien, CEO of Health and Hospital Corp., which operates Wishard, denied workers were being shut out.

"We will use both non-union labor and union labor," Gutwein said. "They may or may not have to (use union workers), depending on the specific kind of work they're doing."

Gutwein said the labor agreement helps protect the project from work stoppages, shortages and strikes.

"It creates a level playing field that gives us real protections to make sure this project gets done on budget and on time," Gutwein said. "A PLA provides real protections to the taxpayers of Marion County."

The parking garage is the first project to be bid out for the new hospital, with bids due on Jan. 11. The hospital is set to be completed in 2012.