USACE Los Angeles District PLA Survey Due Feb 20 – Fort Irwin National Training Center
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued a survey soliciting comments from the construction industry about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLAs) for the construction of a Standard Multi-Purpose Range Complex, National Training Center, Fort Irwin, San Bernardino County, CA. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com, a project of ABC National, encourages the merit shop contracting community to respond […]
Survey: ABC Members Strongly Oppose Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements
ABC members overwhelming reported that government-mandated project labor agreements harm their businesses, hiring and workforce development practices and ability to complete work safely, on time and on budget, according to the results of a December 2018 membership survey published today. Ninety-eight percent of survey respondents said they were less likely to bid on a taxpayer-funded construction contract […]
DOL Website Shows Some Construction Industry Pension Plans Remain in Financial Trouble
Following this week’s post at TheTruthAboutPLAs.com about pensions and government-mandated project labor agreements, The Project Labor Agreement and Troubled Union Multiemployer Pension Plan Nexus, ABC’s Newsline published this article Jan. 30, 2019, Some Construction Industry Pension Plans Remain in Financial Trouble, about multi-employer pension plans. Merit shop contractors are typically wary of competing for taxpayer-funded construction […]
USACE Baltimore District PLA Survey Due Feb. 1 – US Army War College
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued a survey soliciting comments from the construction industry about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLAs) for the construction of a General Instruction Building at the Carlisle Barracks of the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com, a project of ABC National, encourages the merit shop contracting […]
USACE Louisville District Project Labor Agreement Survey Due Feb. 1
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued a survey soliciting comments from the construction industry about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLAs) for construction of an aircraft maintenance hangar at the Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee, Massachusetts. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com, a project of ABC National, encourages the merit shop contracting community to respond to this […]
The Project Labor Agreement and Troubled Union Multiemployer Pension Plan Nexus
Construction unions attempt to entice merit shop craft professionals and new construction industry workers and apprentices into joining a union with promises of generous retirement benefits via multiemployer pension plans. Construction unions lobby elected officials in charge of procuring taxpayer-funded construction projects with arguments on why union contractors and union workers deserve special treatment through various […]
BLS: Just 12.8 Percent of U.S. Construction Industry Is Unionized
According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics annual Union Members Summary report published January 18, 2019, union membership in the construction industry decreased in 2018. Just 12.8 percent of wage and salary workers were members of unions in the U.S. private construction industry. That’s a decrease from 14 percent in 2017. According to BLS, 1.048 million out of 8.169 million (12.8 percent) […]
Pennsylvania Court Strikes Down PLA Mandate
ABC members Allan Myers and J.D. Eckman Inc. recently won a court case challenging the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation’s project labor agreement mandate for the Markley Street reconstruction project in Montgomery County. Tried in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, the court ruled on Jan. 11 that PennDOT’s PLA mandate violated the state’s competitive bidding laws and discriminated against nonunion […]
House Lawmakers Ask President Trump to Eliminate Obama Policy Promoting Project Labor Agreements
Last week, U.S. House lawmakers urged President Trump to rescind a costly Obama administration policy encouraging the use of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs). The letter (pdf) signed by 44 House Republican lawmakers, urges President Trump to rescind Executive Order 13502, “which strongly encourages federal agencies, on a case-by-case basis, to consider requiring project labor agreements […]
New York Post Editorial Exposes Mayor’s Project Labor Agreement Scam Sleight of Hand
The New York Post editorial board probably won’t be getting a Christmas card from New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) or NYC construction union bosses any time soon after they ran this editorial calling out the mayor for not substantiating promised savings from sweetheart deals on city construction projects with construction labor unions called […]