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 […]
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 […]
Update – PLAs Rock Plymouth: Big Labor Threats and Misinformation
There is an update to a TheTruthAboutPLAs.com blog post from November 19 titled, “PLAs Rocked Plymouth Studio.” The post highlighted an op-ed by ABC Massachusetts Chapter Chairman Jerry Simmer of the same title that was published by the Boston Herald on November 17. Through a letter to the editor in the Boston Herald and comments […]
Op-Ed: PLA Rocked Plymouth Studio
In a November 18 op-ed in the Boston Herald titled, “PLA Rocked Plymouth Studio,” ABC Massachusetts Chapter Chairman Jerry Simmer highlights how the use of project labor agreements (PLAs), and the increased costs that come along with them, may have killed the development of a new Plymouth Rock Studio project in Plymouth, MA. As Mr. […]
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 Business Journal Editorial: Project Labor Agreements a Tax on Competition
The Boston Business Journal ran an editorial critical of project labor agreements (PLAs) and President Obama’s Executive Order 13502 (“PLAs a Tax on Competition,” 9/25). PLAs de facto lock in unions at major job sites, all but barring 84 percent of the construction workforce that isn’t union. Obama earlier this year issued an executive order […]
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 […]
Union Corporate Campaign for Biotech Project Labor Agreement in Massachusetts
On 5/1 I wrote about how Virginia Building Trades Unions were running a corporate campaign against Dominion Virginia Power for more union jobs and (likely) a PLA. The Massachusetts Building Trades have taken a corporate campaign against companies in Massachusetts’ Biotech industry to a whole new level with this absurd StopBiotechLooting.org website, media campaign and […]