It’s official. The nation’s fifth largest and perhaps most famous county has said NO to discriminatory and costly project labor agreements (PLAs).
Yesterday, the Orange County (CA) Board of Supervisors unanimously approved an ordinance prohibiting government-mandated PLAs on county-funded construction projects.
The ordinance was approved 5-0 last week, but had to be heard a second time yesterday before it could become law.
The ordinance prohibits the county from mandating PLAs on county-funded construction contracts unless California and/or federal law forces the county to require PLAs. All contractors are free to voluntarily enter into PLAs but government will no longer be able to “play favorites” and funnel public contracts to Big Labor and other special interests via discriminatory and costly PLAs.
This is a huge victory for Orange County taxpayers and sends a decisive message to other California elected officials that government-mandated PLAs are bad public policy.
A 10/29 Orange County Register editorial headline sums up this victory best: “Unions’ Public Works Loss is Taxpayers’ Gain.”