Divisive Vote Near Los Angeles for Project Labor Agreement: Three School Board Members Defy Community and Reward Union Campaign Contributors
Big Labor politics in Los Angeles was on brazen display at the San Gabriel Unified School District in the City of San Gabriel (ten miles east of downtown Los Angeles) on the evening of Wednesday, November 10. In front of more than 100 irate local residents who packed the meeting room, the elected Governing Board […]
Palmdale Water District (in Los Angeles County) Votes to Ban Project Labor Agreements
Tonight (Wednesday, October 27, 2010), the Palmdale Water District in northern Los Angeles County became the seventh local government in California and the first water district in California where fair and open competition for ratepayers is guaranteed and project labor agreements (PLAs) are prohibited. On a 3-2 vote, the elected board of directors adopted a resolution to […]
Vigorous Debate Expected Between Top California Spokespeople For and Against Project Labor Agreements
Eric Christen, executive director for the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, will face off against Lorena Gonzalez, secretary-treasurer of the San Diego and Imperial Counties Labor Council, in a radio debate on San Diego County’s Proposition A on Thursday, October 14 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. Eric Christen will be speaking in support of […]
Momentum Builds for Passage of Proposition A in San Diego County
San Diego County voters are preparing to vote YES on Proposition A, which would amend the county charter to prohibit the county government from entering into contracts that require construction companies to sign Project Labor Agreements with unions. On October 9, the San Diego Union-Tribune noted that Proposition A “might be the easiest decision on […]
Solano County in California Uses Erroneous Citation of State Law to Justify Project Labor Agreement
Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) government affairs staff in California knows the state’s labor laws and public contracting laws, inside and out. So ABC representatives immediately spotted the error when they read the Solano County Department of General Services staff report for the September 28, 2010 Board of Supervisors meeting that justified the use of […]
Why Do Private Corporations and Developers in California Sign Project Labor Agreements? San Diego Provides a Clue
In October 2001, the California Research Bureau released a “study” commissioned by California State Senate Pro Tem and Big Labor advocate John Burton (D-San Francisco) about Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). As you can imagine, this report was full of logical fallacies, but fulfilled the intention of Sen. Burton to get an “authoritative” study to support PLAs […]
Candidates Opposed to Project Labor Agreements Win Key Endorsements in Riverside County, California
The Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper published an editorial (“3 for RCC,” 9/21/10) endorsing three candidates (two incumbents and a candidate running for an open seat) for the board of trustees of the Riverside Community College District, which serves residents of Riverside County, California. The editorial explicitly connected its endorsements to the “fiscal sobriety” of these three […]
San Diego County Voters Will Have Chance to Ban PLAs on County Construction Projects
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted on July 13 to “put the people in charge” and “give voters a voice” by placing a measure (now designated as Proposition A) on the November 2 ballot that would amend the county’s charter to prohibit the county from entering into contracts that require contractors to sign […]
Sacramento Publically-Owned Utility Lets Staff Make Key Contracting Decisions – Including PLA Mandates – with No Board or Ratepayer Scrutiny
Last night (September 2), the board of directors of the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) had an unexpected and unscheduled hour-long inquiry into its contracting practices, including district mandates for contractors to sign project labor agreements (PLAs) with unions in order to work on two specific large projects. We learned that the elected board of […]
Yet Another California County Bans Project Labor Agreements
A third county in California has now prohibited project labor agreements (PLAs) on taxpayer-funded construction projects. On a 3-2 vote on August 24, the Placer County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution adding a provision to its contracting policies that states “the County shall not require a contractor on a County public project to execute […]