Oppose USACE PLA Mandate for West Point Construction By Responding to Project Labor Agreement Survey
The United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) issued a survey requesting information from the construction industry on the potential use of a project labor agreement (PLA) for the construction of the $100 million to $250 million cadet barracks at the United States Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com encourages the merit shop contracting community to […]
House to Vote on Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements Again: Oppose Grimm Amendment Striking Section 517 from H.R. 5854
Today, the U.S. House of Representatives will consider the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act (MilCon/VA) for Fiscal Year 2013 (H.R. 5854). As TheTruthAboutPLAs.com reported May 21, during the full House Appropriations Committee markup of H.R. 5854, Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) successfully offered an amendment that will prevent the federal government from prohibiting or requiring […]
Updated: ABC Hawaii Chapter Blasts Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s PLA Directive
Update: This afternoon, TheTruthAboutPLAs.com received a copy of Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s Administrative Directive 12-05, which encourages state agencies to require the use of a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement on projects costing more than $25 million and specifies the criteria for doing so. The directive looks very similar to President Barack Obama’s 2009 Executive […]
House Defends Principles of Fair and Open Competition with Passage of Amendment Restricting Government-Mandated PLAs on NDAA Authorized Projects
It was a historic week for the merit shop contracting community in the U.S. House of Representatives. Thursday, by a bipartisan vote of 211 to 209, the House passed an amendment offered by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and cosponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 […]
U.S. House Appropriations Committee Passes Amendment Restoring Fair and Open Competition on MilCon/VA Construction Contracts
The U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Appropriations on May 16 passed an amendment via voice vote to the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs (MilCon/VA) Appropriations bill for fiscal year 2013 that prevents federal agencies from requiring contractors to sign anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements (PLAs) as a condition of winning federal construction contracts. […]
San Diego Union-Tribune: Vote for Prop. A – Don’t Let Bullies Win
The editorial staff of the San Diego Union-Tribune Saturday announced their support for Proposition A, which would ban government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) on city funded construction projects in San Diego. This support comes despite union claims that if Proposition A is adopted, the city risks losing future state construction funding due to a new […]
Prop. A Face-off on KPBS in San Diego
Must see video from San Diego. Eric Christen, executive director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction (CFEC) recently debated former San Diego City Council Member Donna Frye on the merits of Proposition A, which would ban government-mandated project labor agreements on city funded projects. To learn more, visit their website www.fairandopencompetition.com or their […]
California Lawmakers Pay Back Their Big Labor Allies, Take Steps to Deprive Charter Cities of Local Control
Elected officials in California have again taken their focus away from solving the troubled state’s problems to give a handout to their Big Labor enablers. From 2000 to 2011, the merit shop construction community helped local leaders and voters across the state understand that government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) deprive taxpayers of the opportunity to […]
Virginia Passes Law Curtailing Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreement Schemes
In a win for taxpayers and Virginia’s merit shop construction industry, on April 9, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed the Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33) into law. H.B. 33 prohibits the Commonwealth of Virginia and recipients of state assistance from mandating project labor agreements (PLAs) and enacting PLA preferences discriminating […]
Idaho Legislature Shows Commitment to Taxpayer Value; Rejects Federal District Court’s Decision
Last week, Idaho Gov. Butch Otter (R) signed S.B. 1337, which is the legislature’s second attempt to ban wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates on taxpayer-funded construction. The prior piece of legislation (S.B. 1006 of 2011) Gov. Otter signed on March 3, 2011 to ban these taxpayer-funded handouts was invalidated in December 2011 […]