Ben Brubeck | The Truth About PLAs

Author Archives: Ben Brubeck

House Defends Principles of Fair and Open Competition with Passage of Amendment Restricting Government-Mandated PLAs on NDAA Authorized Projects

May 21, 2012 – 12:23 pm

It was a historic week for the merit shop contracting community in the U.S. House of Representatives. Thursday, by a bipartisan vote of 211 to 209, the House passed an amendment offered by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and cosponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged AGC, American Council of Engineering Companies, Business Coalition for Fair Competition (BCFC), Construction Industry Round Table, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, House PLA Votes, Independent Electrical Contractors, Merit Elevator Contractors Association of America, National Association of Women in Construction, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business, National Right to Work, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Flake, Rep. Gingrey, Rep. Guinta, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, Rep. Tim Walberg, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, Sullivan, The Politics of PLAs, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Women Construction Owners and Executives | Comments (0)

U.S. House Appropriations Committee Passes Amendment Restoring Fair and Open Competition on MilCon/VA Construction Contracts

May 16, 2012 – 6:36 pm

The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations on May 16 passed an amendment via voice vote to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon/VA) Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2013 that prevents federal agencies from requiring contractors to sign anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements (PLAs) as a condition of winning federal construction contracts. [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged AGC, American Council of Engineering Companies, Business Coalition for Fair Competition (BCFC), Construction Industry Round Table, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, House PLA Votes, Independent Electrical Contractors, Merit Elevator Contractors Association of America, National Association of Women in Construction, National Black Chamber of Commerce, National Federation of Independent Business, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Flake, Rep. LaTourette, Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Women Construction Owners and Executives | Comments (0)

Virginia Passes Law Curtailing Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreement Schemes

April 24, 2012 – 9:54 am

In a win for taxpayers and Virginia’s merit shop construction industry, on April 9, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed the Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33) into law. H.B. 33 prohibits the Commonwealth of Virginia and recipients of state assistance from mandating project labor agreements (PLAs) and enacting PLA preferences discriminating [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Virginia, Barbara Comstock, Dennis Martire, Dulles Transit Partners, Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33), Fairfax County, Gov. McDonnell, local hire, Loudoun County, Metro Washington Airport Authority, Michael Curto, MWAA, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Ray LaHood, Silver Line, State Legislation, The Politics of PLAs, Tim Hugo, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Virginia, Virginia Chamber of Commerce | Comments (1)

The Dismal Future of Construction Industry Multiemployer Pension Plans

April 23, 2012 – 2:53 am

Construction unions attempt to entice merit shop craftspeople and new industry entrants into joining a union with promises of generous pension plans. They also convince elected officials in charge of procuring taxpayer-funded projects why union contractors and union workers deserve special treatment through various schemes like government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) because of the public [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Credit Suisse, featured, Pension Withdrawal Liability, pensions, PGBC, PLAs, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Wall Street Journal | Comments (0)

GSA Wasted Millions on Union Handout: Where’s the Outrage?

April 10, 2012 – 1:30 pm

Eight senior U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) officials have been disciplined, fired or forced to resign since last Monday’s release of a scathing report by GSA Inspector General (IG) Brian Miller, whose staff spent a year reviewing waste, fraud and abuse related to $823,000 in spending to entertain 300 GSA employees at a regional conference held at [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1800 F Street, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GSA, Lafayette Building, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Susan Brita | Comments (8)

Boston Globe: Patrick Shouldn’t Bar Non-Union Workers on Longfellow Bridge

March 30, 2012 – 12:01 pm

Two taxpayer-funded bridge projects in Mass. illustrates the stark contrast between the benefits of fair and open competition versus anti-competitive and costly government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) advanced by well-connected special interests. The Boston Globe published a scathing editorial opposed to a PLA mandate on the $260 million reconstruction of the Longfellow Bridge in Mass. (“Patrick shouldn’t bar [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Big Dig, Boston Globe, Editorial, Gov. Patrick, Longfellow Bridge, Massachusetts, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Strikes, UMASS | Comments (1)

Airport Authority Continues Big Labor Favors on Dulles Metro Silver Line

February 23, 2012 – 5:52 pm

Last week, the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA) gave Big Labor Bosses a generous Valentine’s Day gift. On Wednesday, MWAA passed a resolution adopting a new policy needlessly favoring contractors that submit proposals promising to use a union project labor agreement (PLA) to construct Phase 2 of the $2.8 billion Silver Line metro extension project [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Virginia, Metro Washington Airport Authority, MWAA, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Silver Line, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Virginia | Comments (0)

Union Favor on Federal Construction Project in New Hampshire Draws Criticism

February 9, 2012 – 12:54 pm

This week, U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) grabbed headlines with her public opposition to President Obama’s discriminatory policy, Executive Order 13502, favoring union contractors and union members competing for federal construction contracts. In a press release and letter to the White House issued Monday, Sen. Ayotte asked President Obama to repeal his pro-union Executive Order 13502 and [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Manchester, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Union Leader, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, protest, Rep. Bass, Rep. Guinta, Sen. Ayotte, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Construction Union Membership Near Historic Low

January 27, 2012 – 11:38 am

A new report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates that from 2010 to 2011, 874,000 workers in the private construction industry belonged to a union, the second lowest number of construction union members since BLS started tracking this information in 1973. According to BLS data, the construction industry [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Union Membership Report | Comments (0)

President’s SOTU Remarks About Construction Industry Raise Questions

January 25, 2012 – 11:17 am

In last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama made some remarks about the construction industry: “Building this new energy future should be just one part of a broader agenda to repair America’s infrastructure. So much of America needs to be rebuilt. We’ve got crumbling roads and bridges. A power grid that wastes too [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Section 7 | Comments (0)