March 25, 2010 – 12:17 pm
There is an interesting piece in today’s Washington Times that examines how poorly performing union pension plans are at the heart of Big Labor’s support for health care reform and push for government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal and federally-funded construction projects (“Unions Want Washington’s Help With Pension Funds,” 3/25/10). Nonunion workers and private companies could be forced into absorbing the [...]
By Ben Brubeck
|
Posted in Uncategorized
|
Tagged Brett McMahon, EFCA, Executive Order 13502, FAR Case 2009-005, FAR Council Proposed Rule, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Kevin Mooney, McGowan, Pension Withdrawal Liability, pensions, PLAs, Project Labor Agreements, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Washington Times
|
March 13, 2010 – 10:02 am
Here is some required reading about Taft-Hartley plans and the problems facing multi-employer pension plans (MEPPs) by Frances Denmark at the Institutional Investor. Multiemployer Pension Plans Face Uncertain Future (pdf) A Hitchhiker’s Guide to Taft-Hartley (pdf) Update 8/19: Outstanding WSJ analysis in this editorial (8/15): “The Next Pension Bailout” (pdf) Readers can keyword search “pensions” to review [...]
According to a press release by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University, in Boston Mass., a new poll of Massachusetts voters indicates the public opposes a key provision of typical PLAs. A new survey conducted by the Suffolk University Political Research Center for the Beacon Hill Institute shows that 69% of Massachusetts voters oppose a [...]
By Ben Brubeck
|
Posted in Uncategorized
|
Tagged Beacon Hill Institute, Boston Herald, David G. Tuerck, Executive Order 13502, Massachusetts, McGowan, pensions, PLA Basics, PLAs, PLAs Discriminate, Polls, Project Labor Agreements, The Public Opposes PLAs
|
February 27, 2010 – 9:57 am
TheTruthAboutPLAs.com covered the controversial proposed project labor agreement (PLA) on the Lake Champlain Bridge project spanning from Crown Point, N.Y. to Chimney Point, N.H. (“A Bridge to Government Waste and Discrimation,” 2/16). Here is an update for readers following this story. On Feb. 12 the Vermont Senate Transportation Committee held a hearing on the Lake Champlain Bridge [...]
By Ben Brubeck
|
Posted in Uncategorized
|
Tagged ABC Empire State, ABC Vermont, AGC, AGC Vermont, AJ Castelbuono, Champlain Bridge, Department of Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, Federal-Assistance PLA, FHWA, New York, NYSDOT, pensions, Press Release, State Legislation, Vermont
|
January 22, 2010 – 3:13 pm
A new report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that from 2008 to 2009, union membership in the U.S. private construction workforce fell from 15.6 percent to 14.5 percent. In 2009, just 958,000 members of the U.S. private construction workforce belonged to a labor union, compared to 1.195 million construction union [...]
October 24, 2009 – 8:47 am
A new study supports a key argument frequently made by nonunion employers and employees against government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs): PLAs deny health and retirement benefits earned by nonunion employees working on PLA construction projects. An October 2009 report by Dr. John R. McGowan, “The Discriminatory Impact of Union Fringe Benefit Requirements on Nonunion Workers [...]
By Ben Brubeck
|
Posted in Uncategorized
|
Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, McGowan, pensions, PLA Study, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements
|
October 7, 2009 – 11:28 am
The Washington Times covered President Obama’s Executive Order 13502 and the bid protest filed this week with the Government Accountability Office by North Branch Construction, a Concord, N.H.-based general contractor and member of ABC (“Obama Puts Union Strings on Federal Jobs,” 10/7). The focus of the bid protest is a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) [...]
By Ben Brubeck
|
Posted in Uncategorized
|
Tagged Brett McMahon, Executive Order 13502, Legal Challenge, Manchester, New Hampshire, pensions, PLA Basics, PLAs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Right to Work, Washington Times
|
September 11, 2009 – 8:39 am
A column in the Washington Examiner by Irwin Steltzer, a senior fellow and director of the Hudson Institute’s Center for Economic Studies, discusses how Big Labor’s push for the hallucinegenically-named Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) is primarily a strategy to steady struggling union pension plans (“Irwin Stelzer: Unions need growth to save unfunded pensions,” 9/4). The article is [...]
September 1, 2009 – 8:14 am
RedState.com is the latest media outlet to expose Executive Order 13502, which encourages the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction over $25 million. It is a handout to Big Labor at the expense of American taxpayers. In a September 1 post, RedState.com’s Erick Erickson calls the executive order “appalling and “an astonishing reach.” We [...]
Folks are talking pensions, an issue at the heart of the project labor agreement (PLA) debate. Following this 7/26 WSJ piece, yesterday Politco ran a plea for pension reform by Sheet Metal Workers International Association Union (SMWIA) President Michael Sullivan (“Time for true pension reform,” 7/29). “It is clearly time to overhaul our current pension system.” [...]
