The Politics of PLAs

February 2021 Update: ABC’s Fight Against Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements

0 February 10, 2021  Featured, Federal Construction

Among the many anticipated policy changes that will impact the construction industry following the November 2020 elections, the Biden administration and the 117th Congress are likely to attempt to enhance and expand the federal government’s current controversial policy of promoting costly government-mandated project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded construction projects. Doing so would create a rigged […]

READ MORE

Tappan Zee Bridge Project Labor Agreement Fuels Cycle of Political Cronyism in Public Contracting

0 June 25, 2013  Featured, Federal Construction, State & Local Construction

Last week, a Newsday article reported that a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) for construction of New York’s federally and state-funded Tappan Zee Bridge will result in a multi-million-dollar windfall for construction union political action committees (PACs) and their crony beneficiaries in government (“Tappan Zee project to boost unions’ political action funds,” 6/17/13): When Gov. […]

READ MORE

Santa Fe City Council Delays Implementation of Discriminatory CWA/PLA Mandate

0 June 19, 2012  State & Local Construction

Last week, the Santa Fe City Council delayed the implementation of a wasteful and discriminatory community workforce agreement (CWA) mandate for all city projects costing more than $500,000 after city officials struggled to implement the requirement on a small firehouse renovation and expansion.  They did not have any bidders willing to work under a PLA.  […]

READ MORE

Big Labor Claims Prove Unfounded

0 June 12, 2012  School Construction, State & Local Construction

In the wake of the overwhelming voter support for Proposition A, which bans government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on city projects in San Diego, union boss Lorena Gonzalez has said repeatedly that Big Labor was outspent 7-1 by corporate interests supporting Proposition A. Here is a video of Gonzalez making the claim on a local […]

READ MORE

Project Labor Agreements: Not What We Need, Not What We Deserve

0 June 7, 2012  Federal Construction, Open Competition Works, School Construction, State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure

Today, Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) released a new video explaining the negative impact of union-favoring government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on taxpayers and the vast majority of the construction workforce that chooses not to join a labor organization. This video is just one more resource in the fight against wasteful government-mandated PLAs. Supporting facts […]

READ MORE

San Diego Area Voters Again Say No to PLA Mandates

0 June 7, 2012  State & Local Construction

San Diego area voters again said no to wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on Tuesday. Proposition A, the City of San Diego ballot initiative that will ban government-mandated PLAs on city funded construction projects, was approved with 58 percent of the vote. The City of San Diego is the eighth most populous city in the U.S. […]

READ MORE

House Defends Principles of Fair and Open Competition with Passage of Amendment Restricting Government-Mandated PLAs on NDAA Authorized Projects

5 May 21, 2012  Federal Construction

It was a historic week for the merit shop contracting community in the U.S. House of Representatives. Thursday, by a bipartisan vote of 211 to 209, the House passed an amendment offered by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and cosponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 […]

READ MORE

California Lawmakers Pay Back Their Big Labor Allies, Take Steps to Deprive Charter Cities of Local Control

1 May 1, 2012  School Construction, State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

Elected officials in California have again taken their focus away from solving the troubled state’s problems to give a handout to their Big Labor enablers. From 2000 to 2011, the merit shop construction community helped local leaders and voters across the state understand that government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) deprive taxpayers of the opportunity to […]

READ MORE

Virginia Passes Law Curtailing Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreement Schemes

2 April 24, 2012  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure

In a win for taxpayers and Virginia’s merit shop construction industry, on April 9, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed the Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33) into law. H.B. 33 prohibits the Commonwealth of Virginia and recipients of state assistance from mandating project labor agreements (PLAs) and enacting PLA preferences discriminating […]

READ MORE

The Dismal Future of Construction Industry Multiemployer Pension Plans

1 April 23, 2012  Federal Construction, State & Local Construction

A new report shining light on the dreadful health of multi-employer pension plans (MEPPs) for U.S. union workers and retirees estimates such plans are only 52 percent funded, with a $369 billion shortfall. MEPPs in the construction industry are responsible for a significant amount of pension shortfalls.

Construction MEPPs are responsible for about $167 billion (or 47 percent) worth of PBGC-insured MEPP underfunding. Abd it could get worse. Fifty-five percent of the 1,488 MEPPs insured by the PBGC are in the construction industry. The largest number of employees from any industry, about 3.885 million or 37.4 percent of all PBGC-insured MEPP participants (workers and retirees), are from the construction industry.

READ MORE