FEATURED
Merit Shop Firms Collaborate to Deliver $1.4 billion Federal Project to USACE Without Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreement
The joint venture of Balfour Beatty Construction and Clark Construction on the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) Campus East Headquarters at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, epitomizes successful partnering and delivery of a complicated large-scale federal construction project. These merit shop titans collaborated to build the largest U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) project since the Pentagon and [...]
Phase 2 Silver Line Bids Below Budget Without Project Labor Agreement Scheme
Last week the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA) announced the award of a key contract to build the majority of Phase 2 of the controversial Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project, known as the Silver Line. The $1.178 billion design/build Package A contract was awarded May 14 to Capital Rail Constructors, a joint venture consisting of Clark [...]
Merit Shop Contractors Deliver Award-Winning Large-Scale Federal Project For NAVFAC
A joint venture (JV) between two quality merit shop federal contractors, Straub Construction, Inc. and Martin Harris Construction, successfully designed and built a parking facility and Bachelor Enlisted Quarters (BEQ) for the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms, California. This large-scale design/build federal project, [...]
Data Busts Myth that Project Labor Agreements Result in Increased Local Hiring
Special interest groups are in the business of convincing government officials and taxpayers there is a public benefit to anti-competitive and costly government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs), which create jobs exclusively for unionized construction workers and steer huge public construction contracts primarily to well-connected unionized contractors. In particular, proponents of government-mandated PLAs push an unsubstantiated [...]
Research on Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements
Read academic studies and reports to learn more about the failure of union-only government-mandated PLAs to control construction costs, increase work opportunities, prevent construction delays and improve safety, productivity or quality on construction projects.
Democrats Give Cold Shoulder to Construction Labor Bosses at DNC
It is no secret the Democratic National Convention Committee’s (DNCC) decision to hold its convention in Charlotte, N.C.—a Right-to-Work state with the lowest union density of any in the country (2.9 percent) and an even smaller unionized construction industry workforce (1.2 percent)—has strained the cozy relationship between Big Labor and the Democrat Party. In the [...]
Merit Shop Contractors Recognized for Safety Achievement and Performance on Federal NAVFAC Project
The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Southwest has again recognized a joint venture between two merit shop contractors for their outstanding safety record and performance on a $175 million federal construction project at Naval Base Point Loma near San Diego, Calif. In February 2011, NAVFAC lauded the P-401 Replacement Fuel Facilities project, being built by [...]
Another Successful Project Built By Merit Shop Contractor Without a PLA
Kudos to Western Water Constructors, Inc. for successfullly completing a $54.5 million wasterwater treatment plant for the Ironhouse Sanitary District (ISD) in Oakley, Calif., on-time, on-budget and with an exemplary safety record. This large infrastructure project was completed without an anti-competitive and costly government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) and provided value to ISD users and [...]
Project Labor Agreements: Not What We Need, Not What We Deserve
Today, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) released a new video explaining the negative impact of union-favoring government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on taxpayers and the vast majority of the construction workforce that chooses not to join a labor organization. This video is just one more resource in the fight against wasteful government-mandated PLAs. Supporting facts [...]
Boston Globe: Patrick Shouldn’t Bar Non-Union Workers on Longfellow Bridge
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.