Los Angeles

USACE PLA Survey for Edwards Air Force Base Project in California Due Jan. 9

0 December 19, 2012  Federal Construction

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Los Angeles District has issued a survey requesting feedback from the construction industry about a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) on a a fuel storage system replacement project located at Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County, California. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com encourages the merit shop contracting community to respond to this PLA survey. […]

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California’s Environmental Laws: A Weapon to Crush Potential Competition and Extort Developers

2 November 16, 2011  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

Legal exploitation of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) for purposes unrelated to environmental protection continues unabated throughout California, according to an article in the November 14 Los Angeles Times (“Firms Turning to Environmental Law to Combat Rivals”). This news is 25 years old, but it’s always good to see the news media remind people […]

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Unions Unveil Last-Minute Legislative Schemes in California to End Local Fair and Open Competition Policies and Promote Project Labor Agreements

2 September 6, 2011  School Construction, State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

On the afternoon of September 2 – the Friday before Labor Day weekend – the California State Building and Construction Trades Council finally revealed its plot to terminate local efforts throughout the state to guarantee the best quality construction at the best price for taxpayers. Bills in the California State Legislature were “gutted and amended” […]

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Another PLA Myth Busted: PLAs Fail to Prevent Strikes on NYC Projects

2 August 2, 2011  Featured, State & Local Construction

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 and walkouts 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 […]

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Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Crushes Fair and Open Competition for Hospital Project

1 May 25, 2011  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

The seven-month battle at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors over requiring contractors to sign the county’s first government-mandated project labor agreement (renamed on the May 24 agenda as a “Community Workforce Agreement”) came to an end today (May 24, 2011) with a regrettable result for county taxpayers, as well as businesses and their […]

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Stop the Potential PLAs on MTA Projects in California

0 May 5, 2011  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure, Uncategorized

Associated Builders and Contractors Southern California and Los Angeles-Ventura Chapters along with Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers-LA and the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction have formed a coalition of small business organizations called Small Business United. Together, these groups are working with small, minority and disadvantaged businesses to fight wasteful and discriminatory project labor […]

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Why Are Project Labor Agreements Popular with Corrupt, Mismanaged, Fiscally Irresponsible Governments?

0 March 10, 2011  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

In California, project labor agreements (PLAs) go hand-in-hand with incompetent, unaccountable governments. Find a school district with low test scores that is close to bankruptcy. Or find a local government with a massive budget deficit and huge unfunded pension liability for its public employees. Or find a local government that holds its elections on oddball […]

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