The Boston Herald published another editorial opposed to government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) last week. It longed for the day Mass. officials enact legislation ensuring that all qualified contractors and their skilled employees have a fair opportunity to compete and win state-funded construction contracts (“End Unpopular Pacts,” 7/27/11): The Wall Street Journal recently tallied up the [...]
On June 3, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform Subcommittee held a hearing, “H.R. 735 and Project Labor Agreements: Restoring Competition and Neutrality to Government Construction Projects.” The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.), heard testimony about the negative impact of President Obama’s controversial Executive Order 13502 [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged AGC, Beacon Hill Institute, Daniel Gordon, David G. Tuerck, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GSA, Hearing, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform Subcommittee, Kirby Wu, Massachusetts, Maury Baskin, Mike Kennedy, New Jersey, OMB, PLAs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. James Lankford, Rep. Mike Kelly, Rep. Tim Walberg, Sullivan, Susan Brita, Technology, The Government Neutrality in Contracting Act, U.S. House Hearing, Wall Street Journal, Washington DC
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October 4, 2010 – 3:02 pm
The Massachusetts Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) has launched a new billboard telling Gov. Deval Patrick (D) to halt the assault on Massachusetts small business. In June, the UMass Building Authority approved a requirement that all construction contractors must enter into a wasteful project labor agreement (PLA) with Big Labor in order to [...]
By Andy Conlin
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged 2010 Election, Charles Baker, Gov. Patrick, Massachusetts, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, School Construction, The Politics of PLAs, UMASS, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, University Construction
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September 8, 2010 – 2:04 pm
In a breakdown of President Obama’s new $50 billion infrastructure construction proposal, commentator Michelle Malkin tells her readers something that we’ve been saying for quite some time: that all workers are not created equal to President Obama. In February 2009, President Obama issued Executive Order 13502, which encourages agencies to require the use of wasteful [...]
By Andy Conlin
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Blogosphere, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Massachusetts, Michelle Malkin, Open Competition, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs
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August 11, 2010 – 9:35 am
Yesterday, The Boston Globe reported that a group of nonunion contractors filed a complaint with the State Ethics Commission alleging that a project labor agreement (PLA) favoring union labor on $750 million worth of construction at the UMass Boston campus violated the state’s conflict of interest law when it was approved by a board that includes two [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Charles Baker, Editorial, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Gov. Patrick, Gov. Strickland, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, Ohio, Ohio School Facilities Commission, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, UMASS, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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h/t Red Mass Group The Boston Herald editorial board summarized this doublespeak nicely (“A Labored Response,” 7/8): Gov. Deval Patrick yesterday seemed baffled by the notion that unions have any advantage in the competition for certain public construction jobs. He should read his own public comments more closely. During his monthly radio appearance on WTKK [...]
By Andy Conlin
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Charles Baker, Editorial, Gov. Patrick, Massachusetts, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, UMASS, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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A Boston Globe editorial opposes the anti-competitive and costly government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) on $750 million worth of Umass-Boston construction projects (“Public benefits don’t justify labor deal on Umass project,” 7/5). It comes on the heels of intense media coverage, op-eds and editorials in Massachusetts newspapers of the Umass PLA and The Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby’s sharp criticism of [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Boston Globe, Charles Baker, Editorial, Gov. Patrick, Massachusetts, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, UMASS
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Last week, a pair of editorials in Massachusetts newspapers questioned whether Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick learned anything from Boston’s experience with the government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) on the Big Dig after he endorsed a new PLA mandated by the UMass’s Building Authority board of directors on future university construction projects (The Salem News, “Our view: Has Big Dig taught [...]
The Boston Globe columnist Jeff Jacoby blasts Mass. Gov. Patrick’s support of anti-competitive and costly government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on Umass-Boston construction projects (“Labor agreements make no sense,” 6/27). THIS IS the kind of thing, Charlie Baker was saying one day last week, that “makes people crazy about state government.’’ The Republican gubernatorial candidate was [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Big Dig, Boston Globe, Charles Baker, Gov. Patrick, Massachusetts, Op-Ed, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, UMASS
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A Boston Herald editorial lampoons the fuzzy logic used by the Patrick Administration regarding their defense and promotion of a project labor agreement (PLA) for a new UMass project TheTruthAboutPLAs.com covered here (“Love song to labor,” 6/17/10). Project labor agreements limit competition, drive up costs and exclude a majority of Bay State tradespeople from working on a [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Boston Herald, Editorial, Gov. Patrick, Massachusetts, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, UMASS, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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