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Report Documents Problems Involving Minorities and Women on PLA Projects
As part of our ongoing series publishing the truth about government-mandated projects labor agreements (PLAs), here is a chapter documenting Problems Involving Minorities and Women on PLA Projects from Maury Baskin’s Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements: The Public Record of Poor Performance (2011 Edition). VII. PLA Problems Involving Minorities and Women Some recent PLAs have included [...]
Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements Harm Union Contractors and Tradespeople
The debate surrounding government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) is often framed by the media and elected officials as a dispute pitting union signatory contractors and their union employees against nonunion contractors and their nonunion employees. However, a recent lawsuit attacking government-mandated PLAs on $6 billion worth of taxpayer-funded infrastructure projects through 2014 in New York City sheds light on unsung victims of these controversial, anti-competitive and costly special interest handouts that deny hardworking taxpayers the accountability they deserve from government contracts: Union contractors and some construction trade union members.
Minority Contractors and Business Associations Take Leadership Role in Fighting Project Labor Agreements in California Coastal Cities
Minority contractors and minority business associations in California are taking a political leadership role in Los Angeles and Oakland to oppose proposed project labor agreements (PLAs). LOS ANGELES COUNTY On March 1, 2011, Small Business United (SBU), described as “a coalition of small business groups and professional associations representing a diverse set of constituencies from [...]
National Black Chamber of Commerce Attacks Union Barriers to Black Employment in Construction
Harry Alford, National Black Chamber of Commerce president and frequent critic of discriminatory and costly government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) penned another column trashing PLAs that will run in numerous newspapers across the country this week. The piece attacks special interest schemes similar to PLAs that funnel taxpayer-funded construction jobs to union members and away from the [...]
Congressional Testimony Says Project Labor Agreements Harm Minority Contractors and Employees
On Sept 22, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Management, Organization, and Procurement held a hearing called, “Minority Contracting: Opportunities and Challenges for Current and Future Minority-Owned Businesses.” Testimony (pdf) of Anthony W. Robinson, president of the Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund (MBELDEF) pointed to union-favoring government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) as [...]
Minority Contractor Speaks Out Against Proposed Baltimore City PLA Requirement
Minority contractor Harold Scott speaks out against proposed legislation to require community partnership agreements, otherwise known as wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs), on Baltimore City construction projects worth over $5 million in an editorials titled, “Baltimore Bill Hurts Minority Workers,” published April 7 by The Baltimore Sun. Here are the highlights: This bill [...]
Bay Area Black Builders Push Back on Project Labor Agreements
Joseph Debro is president of a new organization, Bay Area Black Builders, composed of black construction workers and contractors fighting together for economic justice. Mr. Debro writes about how building trades unions in his community, through project labor agreements (PLAs), serve as a barrier between black contractors and prosperity (“Jobs Now!” 12/28). The building trades unions have [...]
Philadelphia National Association of Minority Contractors Blasts Project Labor Agreements
John Macklin, president of the Philadelphia chapter of the National Association of Minority Contractors and vice president of the association’s northeast region, wrote an excellent Op-Ed in opposition to a project labor agreement (PLA) on the $400 million Graterford Prison expansion project. It ran in the print edition of the Philadelphia Daily News as well as the [...]
Project Labor Agreements’ Dire Effect on Minority Contractors
In a September 9 entry on the Competitive Enterprise Institute’s (CEI) blog openmarkets.org, CEI Editorial Director Ivan Osorio notes the negative impact of PLAs on job creation, especially for local residents and minority contractors. The post also points out that this problem is likely to become more widespread thanks to President Obama’s Executive Order 13502, which [...]