December 7, 2011 – 3:24 pm
Regardless of political philosophy, one fundamental economic principle is rarely wrong: Reduced competition increases costs. It is a fairly intuitive premise. Unfortunately, some government officials fail to grasp this basic economic concept. They often unwittingly—or even worse, knowingly—implement policies that unfairly cater to special interests or address legitimate and erroneous public policy concerns at the [...]
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 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 members. MYTH: [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Boston Herald, Cement and Concrete Workers of New York, Crain's New York Business, featured, Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements: The Public Record of Poor Performance (2011 Edition), Indiana, Ironworkers, Joseph Hunt, Labor Unrest, Laborers International Union of North America, Laborers Union, Local 150 of the International Union of Operating Engineer, Los Angeles, Maury Baskin, New York, New York Building and Construction Trades Council, PLA Basics, PLA Myth, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, Project Labor Agreements, Regional Plan Association, Strikes, Wall Street Journal
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November 2, 2010 – 12:56 pm
In defense of President Obama’s controversial pro-project labor agreement (PLA) Executive Order 13502, Jared Bernstein, chief economic adviser to Vice President Joe Biden and Director of the Middle Class Taskforce, made this misleading claim about PLAs in a White House blog post on 4/12/10 (read more on Bernstein here): PLAs also help ensure compliance with laws and regulations governing workplace [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC California, ABC-CCC, California, Do Project Labor Agreements Ensure Compliance with Labor Laws?, Evidence That Project Labor Agreements Don't Guarantee a Safer Workplace, Executive Order 13502, featured, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Jared Bernstein, Los Angeles, Los Angeles Business Journal, PLA Basics, PLA Myth, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, White House Middle Class Task Force
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On June 8, 2010, residents of Chula Vista, California will vote on Proposition G, which guarantees fair and open competition for public works projects in Chula Vista. Visit www.fairnessforchulavista.com to learn why Prop G is good for taxpayers and the construction industry. Big Labor opposes Prop G because it curtails their ability to receive costly and anti-competitive handouts from public [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged ABC California, Ballot Initiative, California, Chula Vista, Editorial, PLA Myth, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Prop G, The Politics of PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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January 25, 2010 – 5:20 pm
Wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs) continue to garner public attention in Indiana, as Wishard Health Services prepares to go forward with a PLA on approximately $750 million in hospital renovations at their Marion County facility. The latest PLA-related story titled, “An Ailing Process,” comes courtesy of the January 24 Indianapolis Star. Here are [...]
January 20, 2010 – 9:25 am
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 [...]
By Ben Brubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged BCTD, Carpenters, Gerald Feldhaus, Jurisdictional Dispute, Labor Unrest, Mark Ayers, PLA Basics, PLA Fact, PLA hypocrisy, PLA Myth, PLAs, Project Labor Agreements, St. Louis, Strikes, Terry Nelson
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On Monday, July 20, the Akron, OH School Board approved the use of wasteful and discriminatory union-only project labor agreements for three of the next five schools scheduled school construction projects. The board decided to require PLAs despite an April budget report from the Ohio School Facilities Commission showing PLAs increased construction costs on Akron’s Leggett Elementary [...]
Construction unions market union-only PLAs as a tool to construction owners to guarantee labor peace on construction projects. Unions know that strikes, work stoppages, slowdowns and other labor unrest can shut down a jobsite and delay the opening of a project, potentially costing construction owners lost revenue. Union negotiators leverage the threat of union-led strikes [...]
