Boston Globe Op-Ed: Obama Kowtows to Labor Unions with Project Labor Agreements
An Op-Ed critical of President Obama’s pro-project labor agreement (PLA) Executive Order 13502 by David G. Tuerck, chairman and professor of economics and executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) at Suffolk University, ran in today’s Boston Globe (“Obama Kowtows to Labor Unions,” 10/7). Professor Tuerck, author of a new BHI study called “Project Labor Agreements […]
Federal Times “This Week” News Brief: Project Labor Pacts Boost Costs, Study Finds
Federal Times, the premier news source for federal government managers, covered the September 23 release of the Beacon Hill Institute’s (BHI) study, “Project Labor Agreements on Federal Construction Projects: A Costly Solution in Search of a Problem,” in their September 28 “This Week” news briefs. The BHI study found that PLAs significantly increase construction costs on […]
Boston Herald Editorial Calls Project Labor Agreements Political Payback to Big Labor
Sunday the Boston Herald editorial board wrote a piece summarizing the latest study on costly and anti-competitive project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects from the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) and agreed with one of the BHI’s key conclusions about PLAs (“Political Payback,” 9/27). The institute’s latest report on PLAs casts doubt on the only rationale for the agreements […]
ABC Members Voice Opposition to President’s Project Labor Agreement Executive Order
The FAR Council’s comment period on a proposed rule that would implement President Obama’s Feb. 6 Executive Order 13502 relating to federal PLAs closed on 9/23 at midnight. Today, ABC National released the following press release (pdf) highlighting ABC member contractors and employees’ opposition to the proposed rule and President Obama’s costly and discriminatory Executive Order 13502. ABC MEMBERS VOICE […]
New Study Calls Federal Project Labor Agreements a Costly Solution in Search of a Problem
A news release issued yesterday by the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) promotes a new study that is critical of federal government-mandated Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) and President Obama’s Executive Order 13502. The study found that PLAs, which are encouraged on federal construction projects costing more than $25 million via President Obama’s Feb. 6 executive order, will “significantly increase construction […]
Boston Herald Opposes Project Labor Agreements
Our post about the San Diego Union-Tribune’s anti-PLA editorial reminded me of an anti-PLA editorial published by the Boston Herald (“Stimulus for some,” 4/8/09) a few weeks prior to the launch of TheTruthAboutPLAs.com. The Herald’s excellent editorial came on the heels of an AP story about Mass. considering PLAs on projects funded by the federal stimulus […]
San Diego-Union Tribune Publishes “The PLA Plague” Editorial
During the past 10 years, many of California’s daily newspapers (including the Sacramento Bee, Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times, Orange County Register and San Diego Union-Tribune) have published editorials denouncing Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) proposed at local governments for public works projects. This is no surprise: anyone who looks objectively at how PLAs are promoted […]
Op-Ed: Open CT Projects to Merit Shop Labor
Today the Hartford Courant ran an Op-Ed by ABC Connecticut Chapter President Lelah Campo about the need for Connecticut to ban union-only PLAs on projects that receive funding, assistance, grants and other financial support from Connecticut. YOUR VIEW: LELAH CAMPO Open Government Projects to Nonunion Labor Hartford Courant, May 5, 2009 With Gov. M. Jodi […]
Project Labor Agreement Basics: PLAs Increase the Cost of Construction
If you read the last post, you have learned how PLAs discourage competition from merit shop contractors. Fact: PLAs effectively eliminate merit shop contractors and their employees from working on PLA construction projects. So how does this fact impact construction owners and taxpayers? Academic studies overwhelmingly show that union-only PLAs increase construction costs between 10 […]