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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
The Dismal Future of Construction Industry Multiemployer Pension Plans
A new report shining light on the dreadful health of multi-employer pension plans (MEPPs) for U.S. union workers and retirees estimates such plans are only 52 percent funded, with a $369 billion shortfall. MEPPs in the construction industry are responsible for a significant amount of pension shortfalls.
Construction MEPPs are responsible for about $167 billion (or 47 percent) worth of PBGC-insured MEPP underfunding. Abd it could get worse. Fifty-five percent of the 1,488 MEPPs insured by the PBGC are in the construction industry. The largest number of employees from any industry, about 3.885 million or 37.4 percent of all PBGC-insured MEPP participants (workers and retirees), are from the construction industry.
“Skip the PLA”
Last week, we covered the numerous project labor agreement (PLA)-related events that have occurred in Connecticut in recent weeks. On Friday, March 23, Meriden Record-Journal op-ed writer Eric Cotton authored a strong piece urging the city not to require a wasteful and discriminatory PLA on two future school construction projects. Here are the highlights from his […]
PLA Activity in Connecticut: The Recap
Connecticut has seen a buzz of activity and hearings relating to wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLA) within the last week or so. Here is the recap. On March 10, a public forum to discuss whether a PLA mandate is appropriate for two school projects that are expected to cost approximately $200 million was […]
New York Firm Wins Lawsuit Against NYS DOT’s Government-Mandated PLA
There was a significant legal victory for taxpayers and merit shop construction firms in New York recently. As we reported in 2011, the New York State Department of Transportation (NYS DOT) implemented a project labor agreement (PLA) requirement on a highway reconstruction and bridge replacement project near Exit 122 on Route 17 in Orange County, […]
Out of Nowhere: Project Labor Agreement and Community Benefit Agreement Tacked on End of Motion for New Sacramento Kings Basketball Arena
On March 6, when Sacramento City Councilman Robert King Fong made the motion to the Sacramento City Council for approval of a new $391 million arena for the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team, he generally read the posted agenda item verbatim, but then tacked on an additional, obviously pre-prepared provision out of nowhere: …and lastly, […]
Carpenters Expose Project Labor Agreement Schemes in RICO Lawsuit Against Building Construction Trades Department
The AFL-CIO’s Building & Construction Trades Department (BCTD) and its leadership have violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and Washington state law by engaging in an “unlawful extortionate campaign” to force the Carpenters union to make monthly payments to BCTD and to be governed by its rules, according to a lawsuit filed […]
County Hospitals Are Prime Targets for Project Labor Agreements: Ventura County is the Latest in California
The first government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) in California (following the Boston Harbor decision at the U.S. Supreme Court) was imposed in the spring of 1994 by the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors for a county hospital construction project. Last year, unions managed to squeak out (on a 3-2 vote) their first PLA for […]