Harry Alford | The Truth About PLAs

Report Documents Problems Involving Minorities and Women on PLA Projects

April 15, 2011 – 9:00 am

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 [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements: The Public Record of Poor Performance (2011 Edition), Harry Alford, Maury Baskin, PLAs, PLAs Discriminate, Project Labor Agreements, RedState | Comments (0)

Telling the Truth About PLAs on The Daily Caller: Big Labor’s $3.3 Million Tip

December 10, 2010 – 10:51 am

Word is getting out about the Obama administration’s $3.3 million gift to Big Labor. It appears Christmas came early for Washington, D.C. union bosses, when the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) paid a federal contractor at least $3.3 million to execute a change order adding a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) to a [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Federal Legislation, Harry Alford, Labor studies, Lafayette Building, National Black Chamber of Commerce, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Veterans Administration | Comments (0)

Money For Nothin’

December 10, 2010 – 6:24 am

Bret Jacobson, a blogger on BigGovernment.com, reminds readers (Our Dire Straits: Money For Nothin’, 12/9/10) of a story reported earlier this week about taxpayer waste on the renovation of the Lafayette Federal Building in downtown Washington D.C. As regular readers remember, the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) paid a federal contractor at least $3.3 million as [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged AFL-CIO Metropolitan Washington Council, Big Labor, BigGovernment.com, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Harry Alford, Lafayette Building, National Black Chamber of Commerce, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Veterans Administration, Washington DC, Washington Examiner | Comments (0)

Millions of Stimulus Dollars Wasted on Lafayette Building’s Project Labor Agreement Gift to Big Labor

December 6, 2010 – 6:38 am

How much does a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) add to a $52.3 million construction project funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) in Washington, D.C.? At least $3.3 million. That’s the cost of a change order the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) paid to a federal contractor to ensure renovations to the [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Big Labor, Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GSA, Harry Alford, Lafayette Building, National Black Chamber of Commerce, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, State Executive Order, The Politics of PLAs, Washington DC, Washington Examiner | Comments (8)

National Black Chamber of Commerce Attacks Union Barriers to Black Employment in Construction

November 5, 2010 – 10:37 am

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 [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Congressional Black Caucus, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Harry Alford, Helpers, Minority Contracting, National Black Chamber of Commerce, Op-Ed, PLAs, PLAs Discriminate, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Salting | Comments (1)

Congressional Testimony Says Project Labor Agreements Harm Minority Contractors and Employees

October 26, 2010 – 8:27 am

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 [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Contracting, Harry Alford, Hearing, Minority Business Enterprise Legal Defense and Education Fund (MBELDEF), National Association of Minority Contractors, National Black Chamber of Commerce, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, U.S. House Hearing, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (1)

Think Tank Attacks Project Labor Agreement Discrimination

September 29, 2010 – 8:09 am

Jim Waters, vice president of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky’s free-market think tank, penned an interesting column about the discriminatory nature of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs). Here is an excerpt from “Local PLAs bite the hand feeding the beast,” 9/24: Prejudice at the lunch counter may have disappeared, but other types of discrimination remain alive [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged AGC, Bluegrass Institute, Carter County, Executive Order 13502, Federal Contracting, Harry Alford, Kentucky, National Black Chamber of Commerce, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, School Construction, The Politics of PLAs | Comments (1)

Project Labor Agreements Don’t Guarantee a Local Workforce

May 21, 2010 – 8:38 am

When Big Labor claims project labor agreements (PLAs) guarantee a local workforce, challenge that assertion. Inquire and request documentation explaining the local union hall’s policy on “travelers” or “boomers” and ask elected officials in charge of construction projects to have local union halls submit their policy in writing. Typically, union collective bargaining agreements and PLAs give out-of-area travelers/boomers [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Harry Alford, Ironworkers, Ironworkers Local 433, Las Vegas, Las Vegas Review Journal, National Black Chamber of Commerce, PLAs, PLAs Discriminate, Travelers/Boomers, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Bay Area Black Builders Push Back on Project Labor Agreements

December 1, 2009 – 9:54 am

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 [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Bay Area Black Builders, California, Harry Alford, National Black Chamber of Commerce, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, Project Labor Agreements, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Philadelphia National Association of Minority Contractors Blasts Project Labor Agreements

October 1, 2009 – 4:04 am

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 [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Graterford, Harry Alford, National Association of Minority Contractors, National Black Chamber of Commerce, Op-Ed, Philadelphia, Philadelphia Convention Center, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Prisons, Project Labor Agreements, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)