Big Labor’s Push for PLAs in Charm City Heats Up
Big Labor’s push for wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs) on city-funded construction in Baltimore City is kicking into high gear.
We expect Baltimore City Councilman Bill Henry to introduce legislation today that would require “community partnership agreements” on construction projects that receive city financial support. This comes two weeks after a similar proposal was supposed to be introduced but then it was pulled from the agenda.
Union bosses are hitting Baltimore residents with pre-recorded phone calls (A.K.A. “robo calls”) to draw attention to their “Get Baltimore Working” event this afternoon outside Baltimore City Hall to support the introduction of this legislation.
Here is the robo calls’ script, which many Baltimore residents can expect to hear on their voice mails today:
Hello, this Betty Bland Thomas, I’m the President of the Sharp Leadenhall Hall Planning Committee here in Baltimore and I am calling you to remind you about the “Get Baltimore Working” job rally, on tomorrow, Monday, March 22nd at 4:15 p.m. inside Baltimore City Hall. Councilman Henry is going to introduce a law to put Community Partnership Agreements on major dissolvements and construction projects throughout the City of Baltimore. When our tax dollars are spent to build in our city, we need to make sure residents who need work are being employed. So join us on Monday, March 22 at 4:15 at City Hall. It is imperative that we do something more than the status quo to address unemployment in Baltimore.
Paid for by the “Get Baltimore Working Campaign”
As we said in an earlier post, a community partnership agreement is just Big Labor’s way of rebranding PLAs. This effort is nothing more than a public relations gimmick designed to confuse the public about the true intent of this legislation, which is to leverage cronyism government relationships to pass legislation that favors Big Labor by cutting competition from qualified nonunion contractors and their local employees.
Big Labor’s rebranding effort is simply putting lipstick on the PLA pig.
Meet Ms. Porkzilla, the Project Labor Agreement (PLA) Pig
As as for the “Get Baltimore Working Campaign,” they are nothing more than a front group for Big Labor. The only people from Baltimore they want to put to work are union members.
Here at TheTruthAboutPLAs.com, we noticed that others in the blogosphere have taken note of the problems with this proposal. Here is a note from Examiner contributor and blogger Adam Meister in a blog post titled, “Bill Henry’s Union Related Robocall,” 3/19:
This is not going to create jobs and it is going to cost the tax payer dearly. I don’t see how this is not an illegal discriminatory practice.
We Agree.
Big Labor isn’t the only one to take action on this proposed bill. The fight against this union-only discrimination took to the airwaves this morning on The Larry Young Morning Show on WOLB 1010 AM. Larry spoke with ABC Baltimore chapter president Mike Henderson about the discriminatory impact of PLAs and Big Labor’s false promises to defend the proposed PLA legislation being considered by the City Council.