Longfellow Bridge

Op-Ed: Gov’s Insistence on PLAs Excludes Majority of State’s Skilled Labor

0 August 2, 2012  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure, Uncategorized

The controversy over Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s (D) decision to require contractors to sign a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) as a condition of performing work on the $285 million reconstruction of I-95’s Whittier Bridge continued to attract attention and remind Bostonians of past PLA failures in their community this week.     Greg Beeman, president of […]

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Gov. Patrick Pushes PLA on Whittier Memorial Bridge as Big Dig Costs Balloon to $24.3 Billion

0 July 16, 2012  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure

Insanity is often described as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) should revisit his position on a costly and unfortunate policy favoring construction trade unions or expect more waste, discrimination and insanity in the Bay State.

Last week, the ballooning costs of the Big Dig grabbed headlines while Gov. Patrick was criticized for restricting competition for construction contracts to build the $285 million Whittier Memorial Bridge across the Merrimack River to firms willing to sign a union-only government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA).

Meanwhile, last week state lawmakers learned Big Dig costs have mushroomed to more than $24.3 billion, harming the state’s ability to fund other critical transportation projects and create additional construction jobs. Funded by federal and Massachusetts taxpayers, the Big Dig is the most expensive and infamous government-mandated PLA job of all time.

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