Boston Globe Editorial Board Slams Massachusetts Governor’s Pro-Project Labor Agreement Executive Order
On March 11, 2025, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healy (D) issued Executive Order No. 641 Using Project Labor Agreements to Promote Successful Delivery of Major Projects. The EO, announced at the Massachusetts Building Trades Annual Convention, seeks to encourage government-mandated project labor agreements on state construction projects estimated to cost $35 million or more. The EO […]
Mass Lawmakers Give Project Labor Agreements the Green Light After Legal Defeat and Bad Press
Massachusetts lawmakers have passed legislation giving local and state government stakeholders the green light to mandate anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded construction projects. The legislative maneuver follows a decision from a Massachusetts court that struck down a government-mandated PLA for violating state competitive bidding laws. On November 14, 2024, Massachusetts lawmakers approved […]
Boston Globe Editorial: Project Labor Agreements Are Bad Policy
This scathing May 28, 2024, Boston Globe editorial headline says it all, Project Labor Agreements are Bad Policy. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com couldn’t agree more. It’s one of dozens of editorials by major newspapers exposing these anti-competitive and costly schemes for what they really are. Check it out: It’s one of the most predictable of economic impulses. Facing […]
Lawsuit Flushes Project Labor Agreement Scheme on Massachusetts Wastewater Facility
ABC’s Massachusetts chapter and a coalition of local merit shop contractors successfully blocked the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission’s scheme for a project labor agreement mandate on a $325 million water filtration plant. “Notwithstanding the lip service the PLA pays to being open to all bidders, it most assuredly is not,” wrote Hampden Superior Court […]
USACE Louisville District PLA Survey for Westover AFB, MA Due July 12
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued a survey soliciting comments from the construction industry about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) for a the repair repair by replacement of Runway 05/23 and overruns at Westover Air Reserve Base. ABC National, encourages the merit shop contracting community to respond to this PLA survey. […]
USACE Mobile District Project Labor Agreement Survey Due May 9
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued a survey soliciting comments from the construction industry about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreements (PLA) on projects associated with U.S. Army Medical Command facilities in Maryland, Delaware, Texas, Massachusetts, and Alabama. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com encourages the merit shop contracting community to respond to this […]
USACE Project Labor Agreement Survey For Hanscom AFB School Due Jan. 5
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued a survey soliciting comments from the construction industry about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) on a contract to demolish the existing Hanscom primary school and construct a new primary school at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, MA. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com encourages the merit shop […]
USACE Project Labor Agreement Survey for New England MATOC Jobs Due June 2
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New England District is requesting comments from the construction community addressing a potential government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) for federal Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC) to build, renovate and repair military and other federal facilities throughout six New England states. Those states include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode […]
Project Labor Agreement Fails at Local Hire on New Bedford Dredging Project
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. 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 schemes, which funnel lucrative […]
Great Scott: Projects Bid With and Without PLA Mandates Show PLAs Increase Costs and Reduce Competition
While researching the use of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) in West Virginia in advance of Wednesday’s deadline for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) survey about a potential PLA mandate on a large-scale federal project in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., TheTruthAboutPLAs.com went back in time to revisit another real-world example of how discriminatory PLA […]