Greenmail | The Truth About PLAs - Part 2

Open Competition Legislation on the Move!

March 2, 2011 – 10:23 am

There have been some big developments for proponents of fair and open competition around the country. It is clear that taxpayers from sea to shining sea are sick of their hard earned tax dollars funding special interest handouts in the form of wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs). Last week, lawmakers in Idaho cleared [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Michigan, Executive Order 13502, Florida, Georgia, Gov. Terry Branstad, Greenmail, Idaho, Iowa, Michigan, Ohio, PLA Ban, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, State Executive Order, State Legislation | Comments (1)

Newspaper in Mojave Desert: “Nobody with Half a Brain” Believes Construction Unions Fear Environmental Risks from Solar Power

February 15, 2011 – 3:24 pm

An editorial in the February 14, 2011 Barstow Desert-Dispatch (“Greenmail” a Threat to Energy Projects) is blunt about the union “greenmail” scheme to exploit the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and block permits for the construction of solar and other renewable power plants in the Mojave Desert: …we now have another reason to be concerned [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, California Environmental Quality Act, Green Jobs, Greenmail, IBEW, Kevin Dayton, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Radio Interview, Wal-Mart | Comments (0)

San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Votes 3-0 to Reject Union Appeal of Solar Project

February 9, 2011 – 5:29 am

At its February 8, 2011 meeting, the San Bernardino County (California) Board of Supervisors voted 3-0 to reject a scheme by the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 477 to block a permit to build a 40-megawatt solar photovoltaic generating facility in the Mojave Desert, near Kramer Junction. The San Bernardino County Planning Commission [...]

By Kevin Dayton | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, California Environmental Quality Act, Green Jobs, Greenmail, IBEW, Kevin Dayton, LA Times, Los Angeles, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Solar Power, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Union Blocks Yet Another Solar Project

February 7, 2011 – 1:14 pm

Tomorrow (February 8, 2011) the San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors will discuss the environmental objections of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local No. 477 to a 40-megawatt solar photovoltaic generation facility proposed by LightSource Renewables for construction in unincorporated San Bernardino County near Kramer Junction in the Mojave Desert. Neither the San [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, California Environmental Quality Act, Green Jobs, Greenmail, IBEW, Kevin Dayton, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Solar Power | Comments (1)

Los Angeles Times Exposes How Unions Misuse Environmental Laws to Block Solar Projects and Extract Project Labor Agreements

February 6, 2011 – 12:46 am

An article in today’s Los Angeles Times (“Labor Coalition’s Tactics on Renewable Energy Projects Are Criticized” February 5, 2011) exposes how a union front group called California Unions for Reliable Energy (CURE) has exploited environmental laws to block permits for solar thermal power plants until the developers sign project labor agreements. Objecting to this environmental [...]

By Kevin Dayton | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, Green Jobs, Greenmail, Kevin Dayton, LA Times, Los Angeles, PLAs, PLAs Increase Costs, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (2)

Los Angeles is Laboring Under Greenmail

January 19, 2011 – 8:45 am

The January 17 Los Angeles Business Journal includes an opinion piece (Laboring Under ‘Greenmail’) by thetruthaboutPLAs.com blogger Kevin Dayton of Associated Builders and Contractors of California explaining that Los Angeles-based construction unions are exploiting the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and other environmental laws to hold up permits until the private developers of proposed projects [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, California Environmental Quality Act, Greenmail, Kevin Dayton, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Business Journal, Op-Ed, Orange County, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (1)

Union Fund Gets $90,000 through Project Labor Agreement with Northern California Utility and Then Gives $50,000 to Campaign Against Chula Vista Ballot Measure

November 19, 2010 – 9:49 am

How are California construction unions able to make $50,000 political contributions to local campaigns? In one case, a union trust fund that made such a contribution in California received funding from ratepayers of a publicly-owned utility through a mandated payoff included in a Project Labor Agreement. A year ago (November 2, 2009), the 20 commissioners [...]

By Kevin Dayton | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC California, California, Chula Vista, Corruption, Greenmail, Labor-Management Cooperation Trusts, Lodi Energy Center, Northern California Power Agency (NCPA), PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, Project Labor Agreements, Prop G, The Politics of PLAs | Comments (4)

Vigorous Debate Expected Between Top California Spokespeople For and Against Project Labor Agreements

October 14, 2010 – 8:01 am

Eric Christen, executive director for the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, will face off against Lorena Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, in a radio debate on San Diego County’s Proposition A on Thursday, October 14 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Eric Christen will be speaking in support of [...]

By Kevin Dayton | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 20 in 2010, 2010 Election, ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, Debate, Greenmail, local legislation, PLAs, Project Labor Agreements, Proposition A, Radio Interview, San Diego | Comments (2)

Why Do Private Corporations and Developers in California Sign Project Labor Agreements? San Diego Provides a Clue

September 23, 2010 – 12:43 pm

In October 2001, the California Research Bureau released a “study” commissioned by California State Senate Pro Tem and Big Labor advocate John Burton (D-San Francisco) about Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). As you can imagine, this report was full of logical fallacies, but fulfilled the intention of Sen. Burton to get an “authoritative” study to support PLAs [...]

By Kevin Dayton | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged California, Greenmail, Kevin Dayton, PLAs, private PLA, Private PLAs, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego, Union Propaganda Machine | Comments (0)

Yet Another California County Bans Project Labor Agreements

August 25, 2010 – 8:01 am

A third county in California has now prohibited project labor agreements (PLAs) on taxpayer-funded construction projects. 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 [...]

By Kevin Dayton | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 20 in 2010, ABC California, California, County, Greenmail, Kevin Dayton, local legislation, Orange County, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, San Diego, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)