Boston Herald Editorial: There is No Rationale for Project Labor Agreements
A Boston Herald editorial lampoons the fuzzy logic used by the Patrick Administration regarding their defense and promotion of a project labor agreement (PLA) for a new UMass project TheTruthAboutPLAs.com covered here (“Love song to labor,” 6/17/10). Project labor agreements limit competition, drive up costs and exclude a majority of Bay State tradespeople from working on a […]
PLA Scheme Adopted at UMass: Governor Patrick and Big Labor Continue Cozy Relationship
As reported in the Boston Globe here and here, this week the UMass Building Authority board of directors voted for a project labor agreement (PLA) on the Boston campus’ master plan, a 10-year blueprint with an estimated $750 million in future construction projects. The UMass Building Authority’s vote comes after Mass. Governor Deval Patrick pledged to unions that […]
Mass. Gubernatorial Candidates Clash Over PLAs
According to an editorial in the Worcester Telegram, government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) have been a divisive issue between incumbent Democrat Deval Patrick and GOP challenger Charles Baker in the Massachussetts gubernatorial race (“Shop Talk: Patrick and Baker camps spar over PLAs,” 5/6/10): The verbal dispute between the Patrick administration and GOP gubernatorial candidate Charles Baker over project labor agreements […]
Patrick’s Policies Make Hiring Local Workers “Impossible”
In response to a recent Boston Herald report that Massachusetts stimulus work is going to out of state contractors, ABC Massachusetts chapter Greg Beeman offered his thoughts on how Gov. Deval Patrick’s push for PLAs on state work will make this problem worse in an April 8 op-ed published by the Herald. Here are the […]
Clash of the Mass. Construction Industry Titans: PLA Debate on Boston Talk Radio
The Tom and Todd program on Boston’s WRKO AM 680 Talk Radio held a debate this morning about government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) between Ron Cogliano of the Merit Construction Alliance and Frank Callahan of the Massachusetts Building Construction Trades Council. The debate was inspired by an anti-PLA Boston Globe column by Scott Lehigh that we covered here last […]
Project Labor Agreements: Disguised Union Entitlement?
Diane Williamson, a Worcester Telegram columnist, takes Massachussetts Gov. Deval L. Patrick to the woodshed for encouraging a policy of “disguised” “union entitlement” and supporting government-mandated project labor agreements (PLA) on a variety of public works projects (“Union-only state policy is unfair,” 4/1/10). It is unclear how President Obama escaped Williamson’s wrath, as he signed Executive Order 13502 Feb. 6, 2009 […]
Boston Globe Column Critical of Governor Patrick’s PLA Support
Today’s Boston Globe column by Scot Lehigh criticizes Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s support of project labor agreements (PLAs) on future construction projects in exchange for political support from construction trade unions in the upcoming election (“Courting Trade Unions,” 3/31). Lehigh nails a key point questioning the alleged benefits of PLAs: But that PLA benefit is […]
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 […]