Kevin Dayton: Project Labor Agreement is Costly Sellout to Union
The August 5 edition of the Contra Costa Times features an outstanding op-ed written by www.truthaboutPLAs.com blogger Kevin Dayton blasting the three members of the Brentwood City Council who voted to require a wasteful and discriminatory PLA on the construction of their new Civic Center. Here is an excerpt:
The Brentwood City Council’s new PLA effectively cuts bid competition from quality contractors, increases project costs, and restricts jobs and training opportunities for local workers. In a 3-2 vote, a majority of the city council completely surrendered to the demands of construction unions at the expense of local small businesses and their employees.
Emulating President Barack Obama, Mayor Taylor claimed he was creating “our own stimulus package” by supporting the union agreement for the $65 million project. One could cynically argue that the PLA is indeed stimulating the economy by providing city contracts to union-friendly consultants who recognize it as an easy way to collect tens of thousands of dollars without any accountability.
Read the full op-ed here or after the jump.
Kevin Dayton: Project Labor Agreement is costly sellout to unions
East County Times
THREE OF THE FIVE Brentwood City Council members voted on June 18 to require all construction contractors to sign a costly union Project Labor Agreement to build the $65 million Brentwood Civic Center. Associated Builders and Contractors, a construction trade association, was a leading organization in opposition to the PLA. ABC worked hard to expose the negative effects of this union requirement to the taxpayers of Brentwood.
Perhaps Greg Feere, the head of the Contra Costa Building and Construction Trades Council, is nervous that ABC’s vocal opposition has jeopardized the future political careers of the three misguided council members who voted for the PLA. What else would have inspired his tirade against ABC in the July 22 Brentwood News?
Obviously labor union leaders would have preferred ABC to sit on the sidelines so that Mayor Robert Taylor and Councilman Chris Becnel could bask in an undiminished glow of phony populism for supporting the PLA. But there were good reasons for ABC and the city council to reject this union sweetheart deal.
The Brentwood City Council’s new PLA effectively cuts bid competition from quality contractors, increases project costs, and restricts jobs and training opportunities for local workers. In a 3-2 vote, a majority of the city council completely surrendered to the demands of construction unions at the expense of local small businesses and their employees.
Emulating President Barack Obama, Mayor Taylor claimed he was creating “our own stimulus package” by supporting the union agreement for the $65 million project. One could cynically argue that the PLA is indeed stimulating the economy by providing city contracts to union-friendly consultants who recognize it as an easy way to collect tens of thousands of dollars without any accountability.
Meanwhile, Councilman Becnel took on the bourgeoisie with his attack on local small businesses that are allegedly “too wealthy” to understand his support for the PLA. He even contended at two city council meetings that contractors refusing to bid on the civic center because of the city’s PLA requirement were doing a disservice to their employees.
Apparently, Councilman Becnel feels that contractors should collaborate with the Brentwood City Council in compelling their employees to “as a condition of employment, become and remain members in good standing of the appropriate Union,” as stated in the PLA. However, Feere’s demeaning comments about ABC don’t make a relationship with his unions a particularly inviting prospect for ABC members and their employees.
Perhaps Becnel did not understand what was in the PLA. One city councilmember who read the PLA and understood it was Robert Brockman.
Councilman Brockman took time at the June 18 city council meeting to go through the PLA and explain why the conditions in it would not benefit the city of Brentwood. Councilman Erick Stonebarger also voted against the PLA because of its detrimental effect on competitive bidding.
Despite the principled opposition of two city council members, unions now have a monopoly on construction of the civic center. For taxpayers in Brentwood concerned that the civic center will cost more than $1000 for every man, woman, child, and dog in Brentwood, the PLA should be regarded as a sellout to a politically powerful special interest group.