Folks are talking pensions, an issue at the heart of the project labor agreement (PLA) debate. Following this 7/26 WSJ piece, yesterday Politco ran a plea for pension reform by Sheet Metal Workers International Association Union (SMWIA) President Michael Sullivan (“Time for true pension reform,” 7/29). “It is clearly time to overhaul our current pension system.” [...]
As www.TheTruthAboutPLAs.com has said before, one of the reasons construction unions push discriminatory and costly project labor agreements (PLAs) is because they are a windfall for their mismanaged and underfunded pension programs. The Wall Street Journal’s July 26 opinion piece, Union Pensions in the Red, exposed the inadequate funding levels of numerous union pension plans’ and lists Big Labor’s [...]
After twelve years of fighting Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) at local governments in California, I’ve developed a set of axioms based on my experiences. One of these axioms is that PLAs are about politics, not logic. After all, what kind of logic would lead an elected official to establish work conditions that would discourage perfectly [...]
By Kevin Dayton
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC California, California, Federal Contracting, Greenmail, Kentucky, PLA Axioms, PLA Fact, San Diego, SavePropS.com, School Construction, SDUSD
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A www.TheTruthAboutPLAs.com reader sent me a Las Vegas Sun follow-up story about the Laborers Local Union #872′s plans to gamble with nearly $80 million of union pension money to fund the construction of a new Las Vegas city hall (to be built with a union-only PLA, of course). We questioned this unwise use of union pension [...]
A Las Vegas Sun article demonstrates how the Laborers Union Local #872 is willing to gamble with their union’s pension fund in order to secure a union-only project labor agreement (PLA) on a new Las Vegas city hall (“Old Vegas-style financing offered for city hall,” 7/17). A spokesman for Laborers Local 872 said the union hopes to [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Diplomat Hotel, Florida, Laborers Union, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Sun, Local #872, Mob, Nevada, pensions, PLAs, Project Labor Agreements
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Warner Todd Huston at The Union Label penned a blog post about project labor agreements (PLAs) and President Obama’s Executive Order 13502 (“Obama Admin Requiring Economy Wrecking, Budget Bloating Project Labor Agreements,” 7/26). Almost as soon as he took office, President Barack Obama repealed a Bush executive order and issued EO #13502… …The fact is [...]
On Monday, July 20, the Akron, OH School Board approved the use of wasteful and discriminatory union-only project labor agreements for three of the next five schools scheduled school construction projects. The board decided to require PLAs despite an April budget report from the Ohio School Facilities Commission showing PLAs increased construction costs on Akron’s Leggett Elementary [...]
An article by the Washington Business Journal reports that taxpayers have benefited from intense free and open competition on government contracts funded by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a the stimulus bill) (“Federal officials: Businesses underbidding for stimulus projects,” 7/21). Businesses seeking stimulus funds are bidding 15 percent below expected costs, according to federal officials [...]
I am speaking at the National Black Chamber of Commerce Legislative Conference in Washington, DC as a panelist for a session called ”Revitalizing the U.S. Department of Transportation” today. NBCC President Harry Alford invited me to discuss the impact of pro-union policies such as Executive Order 13502 and federal prevailing wage laws under the Davis-Bacon Act on U.S. DOT projects. [...]
In a 7/19 commentary, part of a Pittsburgh Tribune series on how to fix Pennsylvania’s economy, Jake Haulk from the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy and Matthew J. Brouillette from the Commonwealth Foundation for Public Policy Alternatives don’t hold back in outlining the negative impact of big labor’s ”political stranglehold on legislation in Pennsylvania despite representing less than two [...]
