Kevin Dayton | The Truth About PLAs

Author Archives: Kevin Dayton

Victory for Taxpayers – Fair and Open Competition Saved in Ventura County: Disagreements Among County Supervisors Kills Project Labor Agreement Proposed for $250 Million Hospital

March 13, 2012 – 2:45 pm

At a special meeting this morning (Tuesday, March 13), the Ventura County Board of Supervisors rejected (on a 2-2-1 vote) a motion from the board chairman to require contractors to sign a project labor agreement (PLA) oriented toward the demands of the Tri-Counties Building and Construction Trades Council in order to work on a $250 [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, Hospital Construction, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, Open Competition, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Ventura County | Comments (1)

County Hospitals Are Prime Targets for Project Labor Agreements: Ventura County is the Latest in California

March 6, 2012 – 11:02 am

The first government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) in California (following the Boston Harbor decision at the U.S. Supreme Court) was imposed in the spring of 1994 by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors for a county hospital construction project. Last year, unions managed to squeak out (on a 3-2 vote) their first PLA for [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, Editorial, Hospital Construction, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, Op-Ed, Open Competition, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, Ventura County | Comments (0)

Scandal-Tainted California Politician Voted for Project Labor Agreements in Two Different Lives!

March 1, 2012 – 8:19 am

This story is not unusual in California nowadays: an ambitious elected official is tangled up in a bizarre personal incident (see Supervisor Nadia Lockyer, Wife of California Treasurer, Acknowledges Substance Abuse, Affair – Contra Costa Times/Bay Area News Group – February 14, 2012). But this case is noteworthy from the perspective of TheTruthaboutPLAs.com because the elected [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged California, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, School Construction | Comments (0)

Petitions Submitted to City Clerk for Fair and Open Competition Ballot Measure in City of Sacramento

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 [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 2012 Election, ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, Sacramento, SB 922, The Sacramento News & Review, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Project Labor Agreements Are Evidence of Moral Breakdown

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 [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | 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 | Comments (0)

California’s Environmental Laws: A Weapon to Crush Potential Competition and Extort Developers

November 16, 2011 – 10:01 am

Legal exploitation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for purposes unrelated to environmental protection continues unabated throughout California, according to an article in the November 14 Los Angeles Times (“Firms Turning to Environmental Law to Combat Rivals”). This news is 25 years old, but it’s always good to see the news media remind people [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, California Environmental Quality Act, California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE), Greenmail, Kevin Dayton, Los Angeles, PLAs Cut Competition, Project Labor Agreements, State Legislation, The Politics of PLAs | Comments (0)

California Governor Signs Union-Backed Senate Bill 922, Intended to End Local Project Labor Agreement Bans

October 3, 2011 – 10:19 am

California Governor Jerry Brown announced on Sunday, October 2 that he has signed Senate Bill 922. He even included a signing message that declared SB 922 to be “fair” and “democratic.” This is the most dramatic attempt to date by unions and their political cronies to suppress the Fair and Open Competition movement that started [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Gov. Brown, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, Project Labor Agreements, SB 922, State Legislation, The Politics of PLAs | Comments (1)

Taxpayers Lose Twice: 54-46 and 52-48

October 3, 2011 – 9:11 am

It’s rare to see elected officials repeal a bad decision. It’s usually easier to let taxpayers pay for the mistake. But taxpayers had a second chance on September 12 when the Sacramento Regional Transit (RT) District Board of Directors debated the repeal or amendment of a 2009 resolution requiring construction contractors to sign a Project [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, local legislation, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Sacramento, Sacramento Regional Transit (RT) District Board of Directors, The Politics of PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Bill at Governor Brown’s Desk is Basis for Argument to Remove Project Labor Agreement Ban from Proposed Escondido Charter

September 29, 2011 – 5:14 pm

As of September 28, Governor Jerry Brown has not publicly announced his decision on Senate Bill 922, a hastily gutted and amended union-backed bill that deprives California charter cities of state funding for construction projects if they have Fair and Open Competition policies that prohibit city mandates for contractors to sign Project Labor Agreements with [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, Escondido, local legislation, PLAs, Project Labor Agreements, SB 922, State Legislation | Comments (0)

A Genuine California Union Conspiracy: Senate Bill 790 and the California Building Trades Council’s Ratepayer-Funded Political Slush Fund

September 23, 2011 – 12:30 pm

In California, a mini-public relations campaign is underway to defend Senate Bill 790, a bill now at Governor Jerry Brown’s desk dealing with “community choice aggregation” for electric consumers. Defenders of the bill are trying to downplay an obscure but controversial unrelated provision attached to the end of the bill that allows public utilities to [...]

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 20 in 2010, ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, California Environmental Quality Act, Chula Vista, Greenmail, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, SB 922, State Legislation, The Politics of PLAs | Comments (1)