California Legislature Poised to Issue First Local PLA Mandate in State History
The California Legislature is set to break new ground and taxpayers should be very concerned. For the first time in state history, the Legislature is posed to require a local government entity to mandate a project labor agreement (PLA) on a local construction project. If Assembly Bill 155, sponsored by Assemblyman Luis Alejo (D), is […]
Project Labor Agreement Fails On Tappan Zee Bridge Construction; Jobs Outsourced to Robots
The $3.9 billion project to replace New York’s Tappan Zee Bridge is being built by union labor and robots. The $3.1 billion construction contract is subject to a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) pushed by Albany’s pro-union lawmakers and New York Gov. Cuomo (D) because it will result in a huge windfall of political contributions to the Empire […]
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Election Year Gift to Big Labor
New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is stepping up his election year outreach to Big Labor. Despite efforts to reign in public sector employees, Cuomo is clearly interested in strengthening his bond with other parts of the labor coalition – at the expense of taxpayers and the vast majority of the construction workforce that […]
Construction Union Membership Increases Slightly
From 2012 to 2013, the union membership rate (i.e., the percent of wage and salary workers who were members of unions) increased slightly from 13.2 percent to 14.1 percent of the U.S. private construction workforce, with construction unions gaining 95,000 more members in a year-over-year comparison, according to a Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) annual union membership report released today. In the U.S. private […]
Tappan Zee Bridge Project Labor Agreement Fuels Cycle of Political Cronyism in Public Contracting
Last week, a Newsday article reported that a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) for construction of New York’s federally and state-funded Tappan Zee Bridge will result in a multi-million-dollar windfall for construction union political action committees (PACs) and their crony beneficiaries in government (“Tappan Zee project to boost unions’ political action funds,” 6/17/13): When Gov. […]
Nine Ways Private Owners Are Coerced By Unions Into Requiring Project Labor Agreements
Sometimes, private owners of energy projects, banks, retail stores, manufacturing facilities, hotels, casinos and hospitals require contractors to agree to a project labor agreement (PLA) favoring trade unions as a condition of winning a construction contract funded by private money. This is known as a private PLA mandate or a private owner-mandated PLA. A private PLA […]
Construction Industry Union Membership Dips Near Historic Low
A report released today by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) indicates that from 2011 to 2012, union membership declined from 14 percent to 13.2 percent of the U.S. private construction workforce, with construction unions losing 54,000 members. Just 820,000 workers in the private construction industry belong to a union, the […]
ABC Member Tells The Truth About Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements on Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding
Here’s an update on the controversial New Jersey legislation that would allow union-only mandates on post-Hurricane Sandy construction projects. Yesterday afternoon, Fox News Channel’s Megyn Kelly interviewed ABC Northeast Region Chair Kirby Wu about the potential for union-favoring government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on Hurricane Sandy cleanup projects due to NJ Senate bill 2425. Besides serving as […]
Pro-PLA Legislation Moving in New Jersey. Will Gov. Christie Uphold his Campaign Pledge?
Note: This post has been updated to include video of Fox News Channel story and NY Post editorial.
In New Jersey, legislation is moving quickly through the State Legislature that would expand the use of project labor agreements (PLAs) mandated by NJ government officials. Many wonder whether Gov. Christie will uphold his campaign pledge to oppose PLA mandates, or if election year politics and the recent outreach to Gov. Christie by organized labor will trump good policy.
Maryland Cozies Up to Project Labor Agreement Schemes
Free enterprise is under attack in Maryland and the merit shop contracting community, which employs 88.6 percent of the state’s construction workforce, will be denied a fair opportunity to compete for construction contracts due to the rise of special interest favoritism. Two recent media reports highlight how Maryland lawmakers and the administration of Gov. Martin O’Malley (D) are capitulating to Big […]