The Truth About Project Labor Agreement Research
Lobbyists calling for the increased use of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) have been referencing work by Kotler, Phillips, Belman, Bodah and Le that is critical of quantitative research that demonstrates the negative impact of anti-competitive PLA requirements on construction costs and taxpayers. These attacks, which have been referenced and discussed in inaccurate and biased PLA feasibility studies produced by Hill […]
Keystone Research Center Studies Promoting Pennsylvania Project Labor Agreements Can’t Be Trusted
Proponents of discriminatory and costly government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) have concocted some wild schemes to help misguided and corrupt lawmakers steer taxpayer-funded contracts to their union workers and unionized contractor political supporters with little competition and public scrutiny, but this latest caper from Bristol Township, Pa., is remarkable and deserves to be exposed. In August 2013, when […]
ABC Members Testify in Support of Legislation Restoring Fairness in Federal Contracting
On June 3, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee’s Technology, Information Policy, Intergovernmental Relations and Procurement Reform Subcommittee held a hearing, “H.R. 735 and Project Labor Agreements: Restoring Competition and Neutrality to Government Construction Projects.” The subcommittee, chaired by Rep. James Lankford (R-Okla.), heard testimony about the negative impact of President Obama’s controversial Executive Order 13502 […]
Columbus Dispatch Examines Value of PLAs, OSFC Director Loosens Corrupt Grip on Ohio Schools
With Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s appointed director of the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC), former Big Labor boss Richard Murray, under investigation for pushing school districts to use union-favoring project labor agreements (PLAs) as a condition of receiving funding from the OSFC, the media stands ready scrutinize these corrupt and wasteful agreements. A recent Columbus Dispatch points to evidence that PLAs in Ohio […]
Poll: MA Public Opposes Key Mandate of PLAs
According to a press release by the Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University, in Boston Mass., a new poll of Massachusetts voters indicates the public opposes a key provision of typical PLAs. A new survey conducted by the Suffolk University Political Research Center for the Beacon Hill Institute shows that 69% of Massachusetts voters oppose a […]
Cato Journal: Why Project Labor Agreements Are Not in the Public Interest
A compelling article critical of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) by David G. Tuerck, executive director of the Beacon Hill Institute for Public Policy Research, appears in the current issue of the Cato Journal (Volume 30 Number 1, Winter 2010, “Are Unions Good for America?”). “Why Project Labor Agreements Are Not in the Public Interest” […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]