Project Labor Agreements and Big Labor Fail at Local Job Creation
Big Labor bosses and government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) advocates frequently claim that PLAs are the only way to guarantee local hire on construction projects funded by tax dollars. Of course, this is another myth promoted by special interests to convince lawmakers and taxpayers that there is a public benefit to anti-competitive and costly PLA […]
The Most Infamous PLA Job: Lessons from Boston’s Big Dig
Boston newspaper editorials point out that Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick’s recent use of PLA mandates in exchange for Big Labor’s support during November’s gubernatorial election makes little fiscal sense for Mass. taxpayers and stinks of political favoritism – especially considering the $22 billion Big Dig’s well-documented record of missed deadlines, cost-overruns, construction defects (including a motorist fatility due to a collapsed tunnel ceiling panel), and reports of union workers visting methadone clinics, sleeping and drinking heavily on the job.
Funded by federal and Massachusetts taxpayers, the Big Dig is the most expensive and infamous government-mandated PLA job of all time.
Understanding the Merit Shop Contractor Cost Advantage
One of the biggest complaints against government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) is that these anti-competitive schemes saddle nonunion and merit shop contractors with inefficient union work rules and high operational costs unique to unionized contractors, which results in reduced competition and increased costs to taxpayers. Studies have found that these costly inefficiencies, coupled with reduced […]
PLA Final Rule Takes Effect Today: Let the Waste, Cronyism and Discrimination Begin
Learn how the FAR Council’s regulations implementing President Obama’s pFeb. 6, 2009 ro-PLA Executive Order 13502 will lead to increased costs, reduced competition, unemployment in the construction industry and waste and cronyism in federal construction contracting.
WSJ Editorial Blasts Obama Gift to Big Labor, Calls Project Labor Agreements “Crony Contracts”
Today’s Wall Street Journal editorial blasts President Obama’s pro-project labor agreement (PLA) Executive Order 13502 that was implemented into federal procurement regulations thanks to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory (FAR) Council’s final rule issued yesterday (“Crony Contracts. Want federal business? Better be a union shop.” 4/14/10). This editorial is one for the ages. Let’s hope federal agencies and […]
What is Section 7 of Executive Order 13502 on Federal Project Labor Agreements?
From 2001 until Feb. 6, 2009 Executive Order 13202 protected at least $147.1 billion worth of federal construction projects from discriminatory and costly government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs). In addition, the order prohibited PLAs on hundreds of billions of dollars worth of federally-assisted construction projects across the country. Federally-assisted projects are local, state or private construction […]
Independent Study Finds PLAs Increase Construction Costs
A TruthAboutPLAs.com reader sent us a June 2009 study conducted by property and construction consulting firm Rider Levett Bucknall prepared for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Office of Construction and Facilities Management. The VA hired this firm to evaluate the cost impact of project labor agreements (PLAs) in various markets where the VA […]
ABC Member Tells the Truth About Project Labor Agreements on FOX News
Today the FOX News Channel’s Fox & Friends program sat down with Brett McMahon, VP of ABC member Miller & Long Concrete Construction, to discuss discriminatory and costly project labor agreements (PLAs) and President Obama’s Executive Order 13502.
Project Labor Agreement Basics: What is a PLA?
A government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) is an anti-competitive and costly scheme designed by Big Labor and sympathetic public officials to funnel construction contracts to unionized contractors and union members while cutting competition from qualified merit shop contractors and their skilled merit shop employees. A PLA is a multi-employer, multi-union, pre-hire collective bargaining agreement that PLA proponents […]