The Truth About Project Labor Agreements

Readers of TheTruthAboutPLAs.com know that we have closely followed a proposal before the Lucas County, OH Board of Supervisors that would require PLAs on all county projects valued at $25,000 or greater that receive county funds.

Unfortunately, on Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors approved the PLA proposal, which is sure to discriminate against qualified and local nonunion contractors and their employees, while increasing the cost of construction. Here’s the scoop from an entry on Thurber’s Thoughts blog:

The resolution setting the new policy calls for the county to negotiate an agreement with the Northwest Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council (and/or its affiliates) and for all bidders on county projects to include a provision in the bid requiring the successful bidder – and all their contractors and subcontractors – to adhere to the PLA negotiated by the county for that specific project.

So the county is going to negotiate terms of employment for the companies who win the bids???? Government isn’t just dictating such things as minimum wage and safety provisions, now they’re actively colluding with unions to force unionization upon their citizens. That’s what PLAs do – they require union dues to be paid by workers for the duration of the project. They also traditionally require companies to contribute to union health care and pension funds during the duration of the project, even though the non-union employees of the company will never see any of those funds because they’re ‘members’ of the union only during the project.

But the Commissioners don’t stop with just the successful bidder. They apply this forced unionization to every other party the bidder wants to use!

How much extra do you think this is going to cost taxpayers???

At the same meeting where they passed this increased cost, they eliminated six management positions in an effort to balance their budget for next year.

Stuck on stupid? Insanity? Payback to unions? You decide – my head hurts thinking about it.

Do yourself a favor and review the entire post.

There isn’t much more to add to this accurate analysis other than it is shocking how Lucas County Commissioners are willing to cut county jobs to pay for special interest give-aways that have a track record of inflating the cost of public construction by as much as 18 percent while lucrative construction contracts are funneled to their political supporters. 

Well, at least commissioners attempted to ensure their government corruption was somewhat revenue neutral!