PLAs Discriminate

“Skip the PLA”

0 March 30, 2012  School Construction, State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

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 […]

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New York Firm Wins Lawsuit Against NYS DOT’s Government-Mandated PLA

1 March 19, 2012  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure, Uncategorized

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, […]

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Out of Nowhere: Project Labor Agreement and Community Benefit Agreement Tacked on End of Motion for New Sacramento Kings Basketball Arena

2 March 9, 2012  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

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, […]

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Carpenters Expose Project Labor Agreement Schemes in RICO Lawsuit Against Building Construction Trades Department

0 March 6, 2012  Federal Construction, State & Local Construction

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 […]

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County Hospitals Are Prime Targets for Project Labor Agreements: Ventura County is the Latest in California

1 March 6, 2012  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

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 […]

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Barack and a Hard Place: President’s Decision to Kill Keystone XL Pipeline Pleases Environmentalists, Riles Unions

0 January 20, 2012  Transportation & Infrastructure

This week the Obama administration killed Phase 3 and Phase 4 of TransCanada’s Keystone XL pipeline project (for now), which would have connected Phase 1 and Phase 2 of the existing pipeline to new pipeline that would carry crude oil 1,600 miles from Alberta, Canada, to Gulf Coast refineries.  The State Department’s denial of the […]

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Maryland County Says NO to PLA Mandates

0 January 18, 2012  State & Local Construction

State and local leaders continue to say NO to wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) mandates. The latest to do so is Anne Arundel County, MD, where local leaders adopted a ban on government-mandated PLAs on January 17.     Maryland joins California, Texas and Pennsylvania as states in which local government entities have approved […]

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Federal PLA on Navy Project in Washington Will Harm Local Construction Workforce and Procurement Efficiency

6 January 12, 2012  Federal Construction, Uncategorized

Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) Northwest has mandated a project labor agreement (PLA) on the construction of a $450 million to $550 million explosives handling wharf #2 (Solicitation No. N4425511R9004) at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in Washington. The PLA mandate harms Washington’s experienced and skilled nonunion construction workforce and will discourage competition from qualified contractors that have […]

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