Virginia Construction Industry Supports Legislation Ensuring Fair and Open Competition On Public Construction Contracts
Yesterday, ABC Virginia issued a press release supporting the Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33) pre-filed this Monday in Richmond (see the full release below). HB 33 prohibits Virginia and recipients of state funding or assistance from requiring or prohibiting contractors to enter into union agreements, such as a project labor agreement (PLA), as [...]
WSJ Editorial: Government-mandated PLAs “Deserve to be Outlawed”
The title says it all and we completely agree! The editorial board at The Wall Street Journal has again come out against wasteful and discriminatory government-mandated PLAs. Here are the highlights from the editorial (“Project Labor Revolt: The states ban union political bid-rigging. Obama demurs,” 7/19/11): One benefit of the squeeze on state and local [...]
Louisiana Bans Government-Mandated PLAs on State Funded Projects
The wave continues! With Gov. Bobby Jindal’s signature yesterday of S.B. 76, Louisiana is now the fifth state to ban government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) to some degree in 2011 and the ninth state to do so nationwide. This is a huge development for taxpayers in Louisiana. This bill guarantees that free enterprise – not Big Labor [...]
State Lawmakers Show U.S. House the Way Forward
Despite a setback at the federal level, the drive for taxpayer value on public construction continued at the state level last week with several key states taking important actions. First, the Louisiana Legislature approved legislation that would ban government-mandated PLAs on all state and local construction in the state. This bill, S.B. 76, received bi-partisan [...]
Louisiana Legislation Would Ban Government-Mandated PLAs
The drive to prohibit wasteful and discriminatory government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) in Louisiana got some national media attention this week. Here are the highlights from the May 25 Washington Examiner piece, “Project Labor Agreements Could be Used to Undermine Right to Work Laws and Force Double Payment of Benefits.” “Louisiana’s Right-to-Work Law allows employees within [...]
USACE Issues PLA Surveys for Louisiana, Nebraska and Hawaii
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recently issued three surveys requesting information from the construction industry on potential project labor agreement (PLA) mandates for USACE construction projects in Louisiana, Nebraska and Hawaii. A May 4 survey issued by USACE asks for feedback on a PLA mandate for the VOLAR Barracks renovation in Fort Polk, Louisiana. [...]
Project Labor Agreements Irk Cajun Contractors
The New Orleans City Business ran a story on the anticipated impact of project labor agreements (PLAs) on Louisiana contractors and the greater New Orleans construction industry (Project Labor Ageeements Irk Contractors, 12/14). Construction industry officials insist it will have the opposite effect and severely impact right-to-work states such as Louisiana, where union labor is [...]