President Obama | The Truth About PLAs

Union Favor on Federal Construction Project in New Hampshire Draws Criticism

February 9, 2012 – 12:54 pm

This week, U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) grabbed headlines with her public opposition to President Obama’s discriminatory policy, Executive Order 13502, favoring union contractors and union members competing for federal construction contracts. In a press release and letter to the White House issued Monday, Sen. Ayotte asked President Obama to repeal his pro-union Executive Order 13502 and [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Manchester, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Union Leader, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, protest, Rep. Bass, Rep. Guinta, Sen. Ayotte, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

Construction Union Membership Near Historic Low

January 27, 2012 – 11:38 am

A new report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates that from 2010 to 2011, 874,000 workers in the private construction industry belonged to a union, the second lowest number of construction union members since BLS started tracking this information in 1973. According to BLS data, the construction industry [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Union Membership Report | Comments (0)

President’s SOTU Remarks About Construction Industry Raise Questions

January 25, 2012 – 11:17 am

In last night’s State of the Union address, President Obama made some remarks about the construction industry: “Building this new energy future should be just one part of a broader agenda to repair America’s infrastructure. So much of America needs to be rebuilt. We’ve got crumbling roads and bridges. A power grid that wastes too [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Section 7 | Comments (0)

Federal PLA on Navy Project in Washington Will Harm Local Construction Workforce and Procurement Efficiency

January 12, 2012 – 4:04 pm

Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest has mandated a project labor agreement (PLA) on the construction of a $450 million to $550 million explosives handling wharf #2 (Solicitation No. N4425511R9004) at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington. The PLA mandate harms Washington’s experienced and skilled nonunion construction workforce and will discourage competition from qualified contractors that have [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Corruption, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Kitsap Sun, Kitsap-Bangor, NAVFAC, Navy, PLA survey, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Washington State | Comments (3)

Labor Department to Mandate Controversial Project Labor Agreement on Manchester Job Corps Center

December 29, 2011 – 4:56 am

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued a pre-solicitation on Dec. 22, 2011, for a $20 million to $50 million DOL Job Corps Center in Manchester, New Hampshire, indicating the project will be subject to an anti-competitive and costly project labor agreement (PLA) mandated by the DOL. Bidding is open only to certified small business [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, GAO, H.R. 735, Legal Challenge, local, local hire, Manchester, New Hampshire, New Hampshire Union Leader, PLAs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Bass, Rep. Guinta, S. 119, Sen. Ayotte, Take Action, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (0)

NAVFAC Issues Project Labor Agreement Surveys for Maryland and Virginia Projects

November 9, 2011 – 9:46 pm

The Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC), which manages construction of U.S. Navy shore facilities, recently issued surveys for four federal construction projects, exceeding $25 million in total costs, in Maryland and Virginia. ABC members and construction professionals are encouraged to respond to the PLA surveys. Tell NAVFAC’s Washington District that government-mandated PLAs injure competition, increase costs, [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged ABC Metro Washington, ABC Virginia, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Maryland, NAVFAC, Navy, PLA survey, PLAs, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Quantico, Take Action, US Army Corps of Engineers, VA, Virginia | Comments (0)

USACE Evaluates Project Labor Agreements on Four Federal Projects in Kentucky

October 26, 2011 – 6:08 am

The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) recently issued surveys requesting feedback from the construction industry about the potential use of project labor agreements (PLAs) for four federal construction projects exceeding $25 million in total costs at Ft Campbell, Ky. ABC members and construction professionals are encouraged to respond to the PLA surveys. Tell [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Fort Benjamin Harrison, Fort Campbell, Indiana, Indianapolis, Kentucky, PLA survey, PLAs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Take Action, US Army Corps of Engineers | Comments (0)

Illinois: Where Raising Taxes Isn’t Enough

August 14, 2011 – 9:49 am

Illinois taxpayers are having a rough go of it lately. While leaders in many states have reshaped their state governments to use public funds more efficiently and provide some relief to taxpayers, Illinois lawmakers have decided to go the other way on this issue. Illinois lawmakers went after people’s pocketbooks directly in early 2011, enacting [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Blagojevich, Executive Order, Gov. Quinn, Illinois, local legislation, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, State Executive Order, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers | Comments (1)

Is Union-only the Best Way to “Rebuild the Dream?”

August 10, 2011 – 10:41 am

Michelle Malkin has a new piece exposing disgraced Obama administration green jobs czar Van Jones’ latest attempt to advocate for policies that tilt the scales for construction workers with union cards when competing for federal construction. Here are the highlights with our emphasis added: The problem, posits [Van] Jones, is that his fellow community organizer [...]

By Andy Conlin | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged BCTD, Executive Order 13502, Green For All, Green Jobs, Michelle Malkin, Op-Ed, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, The Politics of PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers, Van Jones | Comments (1)

Beacon Hill Institute Responds to Attacks on Project Labor Agreement Research

July 22, 2011 – 12:01 pm

Dr. David Tuerck, Executive Director of The Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) and Professor and Chairman of the Department of Economics at Suffolk University, asked TheTruthAboutPLAs.com to post the following note and related correspondence to U.S. Congress in response to attacks by Dr. Peter Phillips, economics professor at the University of Utah, on BHI’s research on the impact of government-mandated [...]

By Ben Brubeck | Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged Beacon Hill Institute, Dr. Peter Phillips, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, PLA Study, PLAs, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Cummings, Rep. James Lankford, Utah | Comments (0)