Lawmakers at all levels of government are starting to see the negative impact of these Big Labor handouts and are voting to ensure value on taxpayer-funded construction. The people of Stanislaus County deserve the best construction at the best price and their local elected officials seem to be doing everything they can to make this a reality.

Stanislaus is the eighth local jurisdiction in California to ban government-mandated PLAs and joins the nine states (soon to be 11) to do so overall. This list includes the cities of Chula Vista and Oceanside and San Diego County, where voters overwhelmingly approved ballot initiatives banning government-mandated PLAs.

A list of all of the state and local jurisdictions to ban government-mandated PLAs is available here.

Back to Stanislaus County. We also think it is important to bring some attention to interesting facts that came to light in The Modesto Bee’s reporting on June 29 after the first of two votes necessary to enact the ordinance.

Rules for Labor Ignite a Debate with Stanislaus Supervisors

The strong objections of union officials clearly indicate their interest in pressuring the county to require contractors to sign PLAs. In fact, the head of the local building trades council claimed to already have been involved in 10 negotiations for project labor agreements. The supervisors’ decision to ban government-mandated PLAs on county-funded construction will have an immediate impact for taxpayers.

Here is the Associated Builders and Contractors Golden Gate Chapter’s press release:

Stanislaus County Protects Fair and Open Competition for Local Taxpayers

Today, Stanislaus County became the 8^th local government in California to prohibit the use of union-exclusive Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on public projects funded by taxpayers. The Stanislaus County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to enact a Fair and Open Competition ordinance that will maximize its taxpayer dollars by using the most qualified contractors at the best price. Stanislaus County is the 4^th county in California to enact a Fair and Open Competition ordinance following the 2^nd and 3^rd largest counties of Orange and San Diego and also Placer County.

“Today is a great day for Stanislaus County. No longer will Project Labor Agreements stifle the opportunity for local contractors to bid work. I encourage all local governments in Stanislaus County and the Central Valley to join the 8 local governments in California and 9 states in enacting a Fair and Open Competition ordinance,” said Gary Amerine, longtime President of Amerine Systems, Inc. located in Oakdale.

For more information about how to enact a Fair and Open Competition ordinance, contact Nicole@abc-ggc.org.

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Nicole Goehring is the Government Affairs Director of Associated Builders and Contractors Golden Gate Chapter. Visit www.thetruthaboutplas.com for the latest news, facts, studies and current information about PLAs before you make any decisions to limit competition for public contracts.

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) is a national association with 75 chapters representing more than 23,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms with nearly two million employees. Visit us at www.abcggc.org or www.thetruthaboutplas.org

Merit Shop is a way of doing business in which companies reward employees based on performance and encourage them to reach their highest level of achievement, and in which contracts are awarded based on safety, quality, and value, regardless of labor affiliation.

On a 3-2 vote on August 24, the Placer County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution adding a provision to its contracting policies that states “the County shall not require a contractor on a County public project to execute or otherwise become a party to a project labor agreement as a condition of bidding, negotiating, award, or performance of the public project.”  The resolution cited three reasons to adopt the policy: “to promote competition in contracting, to reduce the risk of cost increases in public works projects in Placer County, and to protect the interests of the taxpayers of Placer County.”

Union representatives showed up in force to oppose the resolution, thus demonstrating to county taxpayers that the policy was relevant and needed.  The executive director of the Roseville Chamber of Commerce spoke in support of the resolution as well as a representative of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC).

Approval was along party lines, with the three Republicans (Rocky Rockholm, Kirk Uhler, and Robert Weygandt) voting for guaranteed fair and open bid competition, while Democrat Jennifer Montgomery and Decline-to-State Jim Holmes voted against it.  (Holmes quit the Republican Party last year because he was “tired of the rhetoric.”  Apparently he’s more comfortable parroting the rhetoric of Sacramento union bosses, as he did at the meeting.)

Placer County stretches from affluent northeastern Sacramento suburbs to North Lake Tahoe and has a population of 350,000.  In the past several years, the county has been vexed by “greenmail,” in which construction unions hire a law firm to exploit the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and block the permitting of proposed developments.  When the developers agree to sign a project labor agreement with the construction unions, the environmental objections fade away and the project moves forward.

Several other county governments in California are in various stages of considering bans on PLAs, as ABC and its coalition partners advance the “20 in 2010” program to ban PLAs at twenty local governments in California in 2010.  In November 2009, the Orange County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 for the Prohibition of Anti-Competitive or Discriminatory Requirements in Public Contracts ordinance to ban PLAs.  In March 2010, the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 for an ordinance to ban PLAs.

Here’s an excerpt:

Erie County also continues to come up with creative solutions to some of our local economic development problems caused by New York State.

Because of inaction in Albany, $200 million in not-for-profit capital projects are currently stalled in Erie County.

My administration worked with attorneys at the ECIDA to find a way to help the not-for-profits move their projects forward.

Our solution was to reestablish the existing, yet dormant, Buffalo and Erie County Industrial Land Development Corporation and have it issue tax exempt bonds for our local not-for-profits.

Our proposal was an innovative way around the state’s purposeful delay and would have put people to work immediately.

Sadly, a few county legislators decided to send the proposal to committee and then led an effort to fill the resolution with protections for organized labor including Project Labor Agreements, apprenticeship programs and prevailing wage requirements.

As we see far too often in this community, too many of our elected leaders continue to cater to the special interests instead of helping create jobs and rebuild our economy.

I call on our new legislature to right this wrong and pass new legislation that will put hundreds, if not thousands, of people back to work in Erie County.

We need those jobs now.

Well put, Mr. Collins.

In this current economic climate, lawmakers at every level must focus on putting people to work, not giving handouts to politically connected interest groups.

Full text of the address is available here.

This is a problem for unions, who become irate and frustrated when the public learns about proposals to impose project labor agreements (PLAs) on taxpayer-funded construction.

Sunshine is a powerful disinfectant against the plague of PLAs.

Union officials are especially aghast at the proliferation of ballot initiatives in California as part of the ongoing 20 in 2010 campaign in California to ban PLAs this year at twenty local governments. Ballot initiatives subvert the typical union strategy of winning monopolies on public works construction by first supporting the election campaigns of candidates in places where few people normally pay attention to civic affairs.

This frustration was evident on February 23, when the San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 to ban PLAs in county-funded projects. One proposal from a county supervisor at this meeting was to allow voters to make the decision to ban PLAs through a ballot initiative. The San Diego Union-Tribune February 23 reported the union response:

Evan McLaughlin of the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council said the debate was too complicated for voters.

“Voters don’t know anything about these issues,” he told the board. “You are the policymakers.”

Here is a test for you to try: next time you’re with a group of people who do not follow politics closely, fairly and honestly describe PLAs and the arguments for and against them. The typical response will be this: “I think unions are needed to protect workers, but this PLA thing that they’re doing is wrong.” Then they’ll say this: “Who’s voting for these PLAs? I guess all they care about is the unions instead of the people paying taxes. I want to vote them out of office.”

Union arrogance aside, the media has done an outstanding job of covering this win for taxpayers.

The local ABC affiliate did an outstanding story and shows that they really understand the issue.  Video of their story is available here.

In addition to the San Diego Union-Tribune story linked above (and here), the San Diego Daily Transcript also covered the victory.

This is a huge win for the people of San Diego County.  Kudos to the San Diego County Board of Supervisors!

As the Lucas County PLA fight heats up, it’s like deja vu all over again for Lucas County residents.

Great Scott Marty! It turns out that Lucas County went down the PLA road in 1996. 

So why is Big Labor pushing for a PLA requirement if the county passed one in 1996?  It turns out the PLA mandate was such a failure and so burdensome that officials repealed it one year later.  That’s right!  The 1996 PLA requirement was repealed in 1997.

Here’s the background thanks to Maggie Thurbur via her blog Thurbur’s Thoughts.  The Lucas County Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution requiring PLAs on all county funded projects in excess of $50,000 in September 1996.  According to Ms. Thurbur, after problems with PLA policy precluding nonunion contractors’ low bid from being accepted and increasing county construction costs, the PLA requirement was overturned by the Supervisors in April 1997.

Clearly, Lucas County supervisors determined that government-mandated PLAs don’t work in the 1990s. Nevertheless, in a stunning example of bad government, a proposed PLA requirement is back in Lucas County.   Interestingly enough (although not surprising), the proposed PLA requirement before the Board of Supervisors in 2009 is nearly identical to the repealed 1996 county law. The most significant difference is the 2009 proposal is broader and would apply to almost all projects receiving county funds.

In other words, the Lucas County Board of Supervisiors found a construction procurement policy that doesn’t work, so now they want to expand it.

There is still more time to let Lucas County Commissioners know that special interest politics have no place in Lucas County, Ohio.  The vote is scheduled for December 15.

In the spirit of Biff Tannen, tell the Lucas County Commissioners to take their PLA proposal and “make like a tree and get out of here.”

Pete Gerken: pgerken@co.lucas.oh.us
Tina Skeldon Wozniak: twozniak@co.lucas.oh.us
Ben Konop: bkonop@co.lucas.oh.us
Phone number: 419-213-4500

As TheTruthAboutPLAs.com discussed in a previous post, this sop to Big Labor, led by Commissioner Ben Konop, is an attempt to require discriminatory and costly project labor agreements (PLAs) on all Lucas County projects.

The measure is scheduled to be discussed on 12/15.

It was originally scheduled for a vote on 11/24 but then pushed back to 12/1.

There is still more time to let Lucas County Commissioners know that special interest politics have no place in Lucas County, Ohio.

Pete Gerken: pgerken@co.lucas.oh.us
Tina Skeldon Wozniak: twozniak@co.lucas.oh.us
Ben Konop: bkonop@co.lucas.oh.us
Phone number: 419-213-4500