Nine Ways Private Owners Are Coerced By Unions Into Requiring Project Labor Agreements
Sometimes, private owners of energy projects, banks, retail stores, manufacturing facilities, hotels, casinos and hospitals require contractors to agree to a project labor agreement (PLA) favoring trade unions as a condition of winning a construction contract funded by private money. This is known as a private PLA mandate or a private owner-mandated PLA. A private PLA [...]
Construction Industry Union Membership Dips Near Historic Low
A report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates that from 2011 to 2012, union membership declined from 14 percent to 13.2 percent of the U.S. private construction workforce, with construction unions losing 54,000 members. Just 820,000 workers in the private construction industry belong to a union, the [...]
ABC Member Tells The Truth About Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements on Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding
Here’s an update on the controversial New Jersey legislation that would allow union-only mandates on post-Hurricane Sandy construction projects. Yesterday afternoon, Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly interviewed ABC Northeast Region Chair Kirby Wu about the potential for union-favoring government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on Hurricane Sandy cleanup projects due to NJ Senate bill 2425. Besides serving as [...]
Pro-PLA Legislation Moving in New Jersey. Will Gov. Christie Uphold his Campaign Pledge?
Note: This post has been updated to include video of Fox News Channel story and NY Post editorial.
In New Jersey, legislation is moving quickly through the State Legislature that would expand the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) mandated by NJ government officials. Many wonder whether Gov. Christie will uphold his campaign pledge to oppose PLA mandates, or if election year politics and the recent outreach to Gov. Christie by organized labor will trump good policy.
Maryland Cozies Up to Project Labor Agreement Schemes
Free enterprise is under attack in Maryland and the merit shop contracting community, which employs 88.6 percent of the state’s construction workforce, will be denied a fair opportunity to compete for construction contracts due to the rise of special interest favoritism. Two recent media reports highlight how Maryland lawmakers and the administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) are capitulating to Big [...]
Democrats Give Cold Shoulder to Construction Labor Bosses at DNC
It is no secret the Democratic National Convention Committee’s (DNCC) decision to hold its convention in Charlotte, N.C.—a Right-to-Work state with the lowest union density of any in the country (2.9 percent) and an even smaller unionized construction industry workforce (1.2 percent)—has strained the cozy relationship between Big Labor and the Democrat Party. In the [...]
Boston Globe Editorial Blasts Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements and Patrick Administration
An editorial in today’s Boston Globe decimates flimsy arguments in favor of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) and skewers Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) for requiring PLAs on major state projects, including the Whittier Memorial Bridge, which TheTruthAboutPLAs.com covered last week (“Project labor agreements: Mass. taxpayers lose again,” 7/24/12): Although it lacks any compelling reasons for doing so, [...]
Democrat House Appropriator Hinchey Pushes USACE To Mandate Project Labor Agreement on West Point Construction
Politicians receiving campaign cash and favors from Big Labor continue to pressure federal agencies to mandate anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements (PLAs) on large-scale construction federal construction projects even though they are not in the public interest and have a public record of poor performance. U.S. Representative Maurice Hinchey, a retiring ten term Democrat from upstate [...]
Michigan Again Bans PLA Mandates on Taxpayer-Funded Construction
Determined to ensure that taxpayers get the best construction at the best price, Michigan’s elected leaders have again enacted legislation (Public Act 238) that will ensure government neutrality with regard to project labor agreements (PLAs) on taxpayer-funded construction in the Great Lakes state. Although Michigan adopted a similar bill in 2011, a federal district court [...]
First Project under Prince George’s County’s New Pro-PLA Policy a Disaster
Prince George’s County’s first attempt to implement a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandate under a November 15, 2011, policy (read the Prince George’s County press release on the policy here) is poised to be a costly disaster for county residents. Bids have been submitted for a fire station construction project in Brandywine, Md., [...]