PLA Basics

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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Do Project Labor Agreements Ensure Compliance with Labor Laws?

3 November 2, 2010  School Construction, State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

It is a myth that anti-competitive government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) — schemes public officials beholden to Big Labor’s special interests execute to funnel lucrative public construction contracts to unionized contractors and union members in return for continued political support — ensure compliance with labor and employment laws and regulations.

An audit found violations by 55 contractors working on a $150 million Los Angeles Unified School District high school under construction in San Fernando, Calif., subject to a government-mandated PLA. The violations include failure to pay prevailing wages and inadequate supervision of apprentices. Four of the contractors had expired or suspended licenses.

The audit results demonstrate contractors working under a government-mandated PLA violate labor laws, yet PLA proponents frequently perpetuate the myth that a PLA prevents labor law infractions on PLA projects. This example shows how the presence of a PLA does little to ensure compliance with labor laws and the arguments in support of PLA mandates are weak.

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Do PLAs Reward Special Interests?

0 March 9, 2010  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

TheTruthAboutPLAs.com has long maintained that government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) are one of the purest forms of payback to special interests. Sometimes it is hard to believe that PLAs are even legal. And as this example will demonstrate, elected officials go to great lengths to justify their paybacks to special interests. Matthew J. Brouillette, president […]

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PLAs Are Political Payback To Big Labor

0 February 16, 2010  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

There is a textbook example of PLAs being used as political payback to Big Labor from politicians that need union support brewing in Iowa right now. This is a story about America’s most politically endangered incumbent governor and the unrealized dreams of one special interest group – Big Labor. When Democrats took over Iowa’s state […]

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Domestic Dispute in Big Labor’s House

1 January 20, 2010  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

Despite the special interest handouts to Big Labor by politicians supported by construction trades unions at the local, state and federal level, trouble’s brewing in the fragile house of Big Labor.  A TruthAboutPLAs.com reader sent me this sensational letter from Terry Nelson, executive secretary treasurer of the Carpenters’ Disctrict Council of Greater St. Louis and Vicinity. Nelson is outraged that […]

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Imperial County Supervisors Reject Big Labor’s Monopoly Scam Disguised as Green Jobs Program

1 December 30, 2009  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

The Imperial County Board of Supervisors (California) rejected a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement requirement as part of a green job training and weatherization/retrofit program at their December 22 meeting.  Here is Associated Builders and Contractors – San Diego Chapter’s press release: Imperial County Supervisors Reject Big Labor’s Monopoly Scam Disguised as Green Jobs […]

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Washington Times: Obama Puts Union Strings on Federal Jobs with Project Labor Agreements

3 October 7, 2009  Federal Construction, Uncategorized

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) […]

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