ABC California | The Truth About PLAs

California $16 Billion in the Red

May 13, 2012 – 9:50 am

While many states have found ways to balance their budgets, California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) reported yesterday that California has a $16 billion mid-budget cycle deficit. Nearly all 50 states, including California, are required to balance their budgets, so this news will likely trigger some combination of spending cuts and significant tax increases. Here are [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 20 in 2010, ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Fresno, Gov. Brown, local legislation, Oceanside, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, Sacramento, San Diego, San Diego County, State Legislation | Comments (0)

Prop. A Face-off on KPBS in San Diego

May 11, 2012 – 4:25 pm

Must see video from San Diego. Eric Christen, executive director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction (CFEC) recently debated former San Diego City Council Member Donna Frye on the merits of Proposition A, which would ban government-mandated project labor agreements on city funded projects. To learn more, visit their website www.fairandopencompetition.com or their [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, PLA Video, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego, San Diego County, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

California Lawmakers Pay Back Their Big Labor Allies, Take Steps to Deprive Charter Cities of Local Control

May 1, 2012 – 12:40 pm

Elected officials in California have again taken their focus away from solving the troubled state’s problems to give a handout to their Big Labor enablers. From 2000 to 2011, the merit shop construction community helped local leaders and voters across the state understand that government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) deprive taxpayers of the opportunity to [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 20 in 2010, ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Fresno, Greenmail, local legislation, Open Competition, Orange County, Palmdale Water District, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Proposition A, San Diego, San Diego County, School Construction, State Legislation, The Politics of PLAs | Comments (0)

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 [...]

By Kevin Dayton | 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)

Out of Nowhere: Project Labor Agreement and Community Benefit Agreement Tacked on End of Motion for New Sacramento Kings Basketball Arena

March 9, 2012 – 10:28 am

On March 6, when Sacramento City Councilman Robert King Fong made the motion to the Sacramento City Council for approval of a new $391 million arena for the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team, he generally read the posted agenda item verbatim, but then tacked on an additional, obviously pre-prepared provision out of nowhere: …and lastly, [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, Open Competition, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Sacramento, Sacramento Bee, Sacramento Kings, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

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 [...]

By Kevin Dayton | 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)

California Union Boss/Community College District Trustee Not Big on Disclosure

January 12, 2012 – 3:03 pm

It isn’t hard to see that Big Labor is engaged in an organized effort to get union bosses elected and appointed to local governing entities, i.e. school boards, community college commissions, county councils, etc. This strategy has paid dividends in a number of communities, where labor leaders have pushed these governing bodies into requiring wasteful [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, Contra Costa Times, local legislation, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Increase Costs, School Construction, The Politics of PLAs | Comments (0)

Bill to End Union Abuse of Environmental Laws Fails in California Assembly Committee

January 11, 2012 – 5:13 pm

On January 9, 2012, the California State Assembly’s Natural Resources Committee considered Assembly Bill 598, a bill sponsored by ABC of California and introduced by Assemblywoman Shannon Grove (R-Bakersfield) that would give authority to file lawsuits under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) solely to the California Attorney General. The hearing was an opportunity for [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, Greenmail, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | 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 [...]

By Kevin Dayton | 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)

Navy and Army Corps of Engineers Request Feedback on Use of Project Labor Agreements for Federal Projects

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 | Posted in Uncategorized | 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 | Comments (0)