Construction unions attempt to entice merit shop craftspeople and new industry entrants into joining a union with promises of generous pension plans. They also convince elected officials in charge of procuring taxpayer-funded projects why union contractors and union workers deserve special treatment through various schemes like government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) because of the public [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Credit Suisse, featured, Pension Withdrawal Liability, pensions, PGBC, PLAs, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Wall Street Journal
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December 7, 2011 – 3:24 pm
Regardless of political philosophy, one fundamental economic principle is rarely wrong: Reduced competition increases costs. It is a fairly intuitive premise. Unfortunately, some government officials fail to grasp this basic economic concept. They often unwittingly—or even worse, knowingly—implement policies that unfairly cater to special interests or address legitimate and erroneous public policy concerns at the [...]
Construction unions market project labor agreements (PLAs) to public and private construction owners as a tool to guarantee labor peace on construction projects. But recent examples of strikes on PLA projects in NYC and other areas across the U.S. call into question the value of these anti-competitive schemes designed steer contracts to union contractors and union members. MYTH: [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Boston Herald, Cement and Concrete Workers of New York, Crain's New York Business, featured, Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements: The Public Record of Poor Performance (2011 Edition), Indiana, Ironworkers, Joseph Hunt, Labor Unrest, Laborers International Union of North America, Laborers Union, Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineer, Los Angeles, Maury Baskin, New York, New York Building and Construction Trades Council, PLA Basics, PLA Myth, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, Project Labor Agreements, Regional Plan Association, Strikes, Wall Street Journal
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The title says it all and we completely agree! The editorial board at The Wall Street Journal has again come out against wasteful and discriminatory government-mandated PLAs. Here are the highlights from the editorial (“Project Labor Revolt: The states ban union political bid-rigging. Obama demurs,” 7/19/11): One benefit of the squeeze on state and local [...]
By Andy Conlin
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged 2010 Election, ABC Iowa, ABC Michigan, Arizona, Arkansas, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Editorial, Executive Order 13502, featured, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Idaho, Iowa, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Open Competition, PLA Basics, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, State Executive Order, State Legislation, Tennessee, Utah, Wall Street Journal
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February 17, 2011 – 10:43 pm
On Wednesday, Feb. 16, Congressman John Sullivan (R-Okla.) introduced the Government Neutrality in Contracting Act (H.R. 735) (pdf). The legislation will protect taxpayers and ensure fair and open competition on government construction contracts by prohibiting the government from mandating anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal and federally assisted construction projects. The Government Neutrality in [...]
By Andy Conlin
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Executive Order 13502, featured, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Sullivan, The Government Neutrality in Contracting Act, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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November 2, 2010 – 12:56 pm
In defense of President Obama’s controversial pro-project labor agreement (PLA) Executive Order 13502, Jared Bernstein, chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and Director of the Middle Class Taskforce, made this misleading claim about PLAs in a White House blog post on 4/12/10 (read more on Bernstein here): PLAs also help ensure compliance with laws and regulations governing workplace [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC California, ABC-CCC, California, Do Project Labor Agreements Ensure Compliance with Labor Laws?, Evidence That Project Labor Agreements Don't Guarantee a Safer Workplace, Executive Order 13502, featured, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Jared Bernstein, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Business Journal, PLA Basics, PLA Myth, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, White House Middle Class Task Force
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September 11, 2010 – 9:35 am
Big Labor Bosses and their hand-picked political puppets claim that anti-competitive and costly government-mandated project labor agreements(PLAs) are in the public’s best interest. In reality, PLAs are crony contracting schemes implemented by corrupt elected officials that funnel lucrative public works contracts to union contractors and their union employees in exchange for political support. Taxpayers are [...]
August 5, 2010 – 10:42 am
Big Labor bosses and government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) advocates frequently claim that PLAs are the only way to guarantee local hire on construction projects funded by tax dollars. Of course, this is another myth promoted by special interests to convince lawmakers and taxpayers that there is a public benefit to anti-competitive and costly PLA [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC California, ABC Iowa, ABC Michigan, Baltimore, California, checkerboarding, Des Moines, Detroit, Detroit Free Press, featured, Iowa, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Review Journal, local hire, Michigan, Nationals Park PLA, New York, NY Daily News, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Inquirer, PLAs, San Diego Union Tribune, San Francisco, San Francisco Examiner, The Politics of PLAs, Travelers/Boomers, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Washington DC, Yankee Stadium
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Last week, a pair of editorials in Massachusetts newspapers questioned whether Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick learned anything from Boston’s experience with the government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) on the Big Dig after he endorsed a new PLA mandated by the UMass’s Building Authority board of directors on future university construction projects (The Salem News, “Our view: Has Big Dig taught [...]
One of the biggest complaints against government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) is that these anti-competitive schemes saddle nonunion and merit shop contractors with inefficient union work rules and high operational costs unique to unionized contractors. Studies have found that these costly inefficiencies, coupled with reduced competition from quality nonunion contractors, increase the construction costs of PLA projects [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Electrical Contracting Foundation, Featherbedding, featured, Labor Productivity, Multiskilling, Operational Costs, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Union Work Rules
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