Lafayette Building | The Truth About PLAs

GSA Wasted Millions on Union Handout: Where’s the Outrage?

April 10, 2012 – 1:30 pm

Eight senior U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) officials have been disciplined, fired or forced to resign since last Monday’s release of a scathing report by GSA Inspector General (IG) Brian Miller, whose staff spent a year reviewing waste, fraud and abuse related to $823,000 in spending to entertain 300 GSA employees at a regional conference held at [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1800 F Street, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GSA, Lafayette Building, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Susan Brita | Comments (8)

ABC Wins Another Challenge Against Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements on Federal Construction Projects

January 6, 2011 – 10:32 am

TheTruthAboutPLAs.com is pleased to share a news release about ABC’s latest win against anti-competitive and costly federal government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs). ABC, ABC members and TheTruthAboutPLAs.com continue to lead the fight against special interest PLA schemes on behalf of the construction industry, concerned taxpayers and supporters of the principles of fair and open competition [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Western Pennsylvania, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GAO, Lafayette Building, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh, PLA Study, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, Veterans Administration, Washington DC, Washington Examiner | Comments (2)

Editorial: Tis the Season for White House Gifts to Big Labor

December 23, 2010 – 9:56 am

ObamaClause and his GSA elves are busy giving gifts to Big Labor this holiday season. Executive Order 13502: Obama’s Gift to Big Labor. Image by Elaine Natario courtesy of The Boston Globe, “Obama kowtows to labor unions,” 10/07/09. A Washington Examiner editorial is critical of White House gifts to Big Labor called project labor [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Editorial, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GSA, Lafayette Building, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Washington DC, Washington Examiner | Comments (1)

Malkin: Taxpayers Beware of White House Gifts to Big Labor

December 22, 2010 – 3:17 pm

ICYMI, check out political pundit Michelle Malkin’s blog. It links to a piece on www.TheTruthAboutPLAs.com and warns the public about more special interest gifts to Big Labor via anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements (PLAs) (“Watch Out: More Obama union pay-offs in the works,” 12/20): On Friday, President Obama mollified Big Labor bosses at the White [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Blogosphere, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Lafayette Building, Michelle Malkin, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, Washington DC | Comments (1)

GSA’s Policy of Big Labor Favoritism Draws Congressional Inquiry

December 18, 2010 – 9:55 am

After recent media reports exposed how the Obama Administration and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) have conspired to steer lucrative federal construction contracts to businesses willing to build federal projects utilizing a union-favoring project labor agreement (PLA), members of Congress are starting to ask questions. This week, nineteen GOP members of Congress, including the incoming [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GSA, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Lafayette Building, PLAs, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Washington DC, Washington Examiner | Comments (2)

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)

Project Labor Agreement on the GSA’s St. Elizabeth’s Site Possible

April 29, 2010 – 9:58 am

A Washington Post article about the U.S. General Services Administration’s (GSA) multi-billion dollar St. Elizabeth’s federal project in Washington, D.C. piqued the curiosity of a TruthAboutPLAs.com reader (“In St. Elizabeths project, opportunities for many,” 4/26). First, here is some information on the St. Elizabeth’s project: Backhoes scoop thousands of cubic yards of dark brown dirt [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1800 F Street, Executive Order 13502, FAR Final Rule, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GSA, Lafayette Building, PLAs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, St. Elizabeth's, Washington Post | Comments (0)

Review of District of Columbia Project Labor Agreements

April 6, 2010 – 5:53 am

As members of the D.C. Council review the misleadingly named District Resident Employment and Trade Stimulus Act of 2010 (Bill 18-650), which would require project labor agreements (PLAs) on D.C. construction projects that cost more than $200,000 and receive government assistance, it is important to review the limited, yet poor, history Washington, D.C., has had with PLAs. Research in [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged 1800 F Street, ABC Metro Washington, D.C. Council, DC Convention Center, DC Progress, District Economic Empowerment Coalition (DEEC), Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GSA, Lafayette Building, local legislation, Nationals Park PLA, PLA Study, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, St. Elizabeth's, Stadium, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Washington DC, Wilson Bridge | Comments (1)