December 29, 2011 – 4:56 am
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a pre-solicitation on Dec. 22, 2011, for a $20 million to $50 million DOL Job Corps Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, subject to an anti-competitive and costly project labor agreement (PLA) mandated by the DOL. Bidding is open only to certified small business contractors willing to agree to [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GAO, H.R. 735, Legal Challenge, local, local hire, Manchester, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Union Leader, PLAs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Bass, Rep. Guinta, S. 119, Sen. Ayotte, Take Action, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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December 28, 2011 – 2:27 pm
On Tuesday, December 27, representatives of the Fair and Open Competition – Sacramento campaign submitted petitions to the Sacramento City Clerk with more than 49,000 signatures of Sacramento voters calling for a vote on a ballot measure to require fair and open competition for construction contracts of the City of Sacramento. The campaign needed to [...]
December 16, 2011 – 12:16 pm
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) issued three surveys requesting information from the construction industry on the potential use of project labor agreements (PLAs) on projects in the San Diego region, where just last week San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) internal documents revealed how a new SDUSD PLA mandate policy is reducing competition and [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC California, California, Camp Pendleton, Cannon AFB, Clovis, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, NAVFAC, Navy, New Mexico, PLA survey, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego, US Army Corps of Engineers
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December 14, 2011 – 12:55 pm
Yesterday, ABC Virginia issued a press release supporting the Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33) pre-filed this Monday in Richmond (see the full release below). HB 33 prohibits Virginia and recipients of state funding or assistance from requiring or prohibiting contractors to enter into union agreements, such as a project labor agreement (PLA), as [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC Virginia, Arizona, Barbara Comstock, Boston Herald, Dulles Transit Partners, Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33), Idaho, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Metro Washington Airport Authority, Michigan, MWAA, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Silver Line, State Legislation, Take Action, Tennessee, Tim Hugo, VA, Virginia, Virginia Chamber of Commerce, Wall Street Journal
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December 13, 2011 – 12:56 pm
Will a recent deal to save the multi-billion dollar Phase 2 Dulles Metrorail Silver Line project in Northern Virginia force prime contractors to agree to an anti-competitive and costly project labor agreement (PLA) with labor unions in order to win construction contracts? What level of protection will Virginia’s right-to-work law offer to the state’s nonunion [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC Virginia, Dennis Martire, Dulles Transit Partners, Gov. McDonnell, Ken Cuccinelli, LIUNA, Metro Washington Airport Authority, Michael Curto, MWAA, Patton Boggs, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Right to Work, Secretary Connaughton, Silver Line, Thelma Drake, VA, Virginia, Virginia Chamber of Commerce
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December 9, 2011 – 10:03 am
On Dec. 7, 2011, TheTruthAboutPLAs.com explained how government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) reduce competition and increase costs. Yesterday, the Free Enterprise Coalition released this press release (see below) about documents recently obtained from the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). They prove government-mandated PLAs reduce competition and increase costs. (Note: SDUSD calls these union agreements Project Stabilization [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Oceanside, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, project stabilization agreement, San Diego, San Diego County, SavePropS.com, SDUSD
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December 7, 2011 – 3:24 pm
Regardless of political philosophy, one fundamental economic principle is rarely wrong: Reduced competition increases costs. It is a fairly intuitive premise. Unfortunately, some government officials fail to grasp this basic economic concept. They often unwittingly—or even worse, knowingly—implement policies that unfairly cater to special interests or address legitimate and erroneous public policy concerns at the [...]
December 5, 2011 – 9:49 am
Rarely mentioned in public policy discussions about Project Labor Agreements are the moral implications of using the government as an agent to prod contractors and their employees into union agreements. Is it right for a government to require contractors to make employee fringe benefit payments to union-managed trust funds and obtain their workers from a [...]
By Kevin Dayton
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC California, California, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Unified School District, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Recall Elections, San Fernando, The Politics of PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, University Construction
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December 1, 2011 – 11:04 am
Philadelphia Mayor Michael A. Nutter issued Executive Order 15-11 on Nov. 29, 2011, re-establishing the use of anti-competitive and costly union-favoring government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on city projects costing more than $5 million. According to Philly’s press release, the order does not mandate PLAs on all projects, but it creates a PLA evaluation procedure that opens the door [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Executive Order, local legislation, Mayor Nutter, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Convention Center, Philadelphia Inquirer, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Discriminate, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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