Biden’s Project Labor Agreement Schemes Exacerbate Construction Industry’s Skilled Labor Shortage
The construction industry is projecting a historic shortage of 650,000 skilled workers in 2022. It is also facing serious supply chain disruptions, unprecedented materials cost inflation of 44% since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and declining investment in nonresidential structures. The Biden administration is aware of these problems that stand to undermine taxpayer investments in […]
Los Angeles PLA Mandate Delivered Fewer Projects and Increased Construction Costs, Study Finds
A study published in August by the Rand Corporation found that a bond measure passed by voters in 2016 failed to deliver on its intended results, largely because of the existence of a project labor agreement. In 2016, voters in Los Angeles approved a bond measure, formally known as Proposition HHH, which allowed city housing […]
Biden and Treasury Promote Project Labor Agreement Schemes on Taxpayer-funded Construction Projects in American Rescue Plan
The Biden administration and U.S. Department of the Treasury have taken another unfortunate step promoting anti-competitive and costly government-mandated project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded construction projects. The latest effort to steer public works construction projects to unionized contractors and union labor at the expense of taxpayers and fair and open competition is sure to create […]
ABC, Coalition Alarmed by Government-mandated Project Labor Agreements in Biden Administration’s American Jobs Plan
On May 5, ABC and a coalition of 16 industry and employer groups sent a letter to President Joe Biden raising concerns about the administration’s direct expansion and support of legislative policies encouraging or requiring controversial government-mandated project labor agreements on federal and federally assisted construction projects. The Biden administration’s March 31 release of the American Jobs Plan, an outline of $2.25 trillion worth of government […]
Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements Exacerbate Construction Industry’s Skilled Labor Shortage
The construction industry needs to hire an additional 430,000 craft professionals in 2021, according to an analysis of U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data released March 23 by Associated Builders and Contractors. Yet federal, state and local lawmakers continue to push anti-competitive and costly policies promoting controversial government-mandated project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded construction projects, […]
Do Project Labor Agreements Stop Strikes on Construction Jobsites?
Some construction union lobbyists and bosses market anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements to public and private construction owners as a tool to guarantee labor peace on construction jobsites by prohibiting union-led strikes that can delay a project and increase the cost of construction. PLA advocates know that strikes, work stoppages, slowdowns and other labor unrest authorized […]
African American Chamber of Commerce of New Jersey Speaks Out Against Proposed PLA Act Expansion in Joint Statement with ABC New Jersey
In what should come as no surprise, New Jersey’s history of favoring costly and discriminatory government-mandated project labor agreements over sensible policies favoring fair and open competition has reared its ugly head once again. Pro-PLA lawmakers in the state legislature, including known PLA fanatic Senate President Stephen Sweeney, have shown they continue to value the granting […]
Setting the Record Straight: Do Government-mandated Project Labor Agreements Really Improve Safety Performance?
Supporters of government-mandated project labor agreements often claim these controversial schemes ensure the safe delivery of construction projects, and therefore, it’s in the public interest for lawmakers to mandate PLAs on construction projects funded by hardworking taxpayers, resulting in reduced competition from local firms, increased construction costs by 12% to 20%, and fewer local construction […]
Union Leaders and Contractors Oppose Government-mandated Project Labor Agreements Too
The debate surrounding controversial government-mandated project labor agreements is often framed by the media, elected officials and policy wonks as a dispute pitting construction unions against nonunion contractors in a battle about whether the government should be enacting PLA preference and mandate policies that ultimately steer taxpayer-funded construction contracts to unionized contractors and create jobs […]
U.S. DOT Promotes Government-mandated Project Labor Agreements in Infrastructure Grant Program
In a concerning development for the merit shop contracting community and hardworking taxpayers, the U.S. Department of Transportation is encouraging the use of government-mandated project labor agreements on federally assisted construction projects funded through a grant program administered by the DOT’s Build America Bureau. On Feb. 17, the DOT announced it is seeking applicants for […]