Maine Gov. Paul LePage Criticizes Private PLA Mandate
Last week, Maine Gov. Paul LePage (R) strongly came out against a project labor agreement (PLA) mandate proposed by Summit Natural Gas on the Kennebec Valley natural gas project, which is slated to cost more than $100 million. Gov. LePage’s office released a statement on March 21. Here are the highlights: Governor Expresses […]
Barack and a Hard Place: President’s Decision to Kill Keystone XL Pipeline Pleases Environmentalists, Riles Unions
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 […]
Chicago’s Crony Politics Force Wal-Mart to Sign Project Labor Agreement
TheTruthAboutPLAs.com readers have been sending emails and comments about recent reports that Wal-Mart has signed a multi-store project labor agreement (PLA) with Chicago area building trades unions for about $1 billion worth of construction during the next five years. The construction of “several dozen” stores in 19 Illinois counties is expected to create 10,000 permanent […]
Lansing Developer Considering Legal Action Against City Council
In response to the Lansing City Council’s recent decision to put union handouts ahead of job creation, Michigan developer Pat Gillespie is considering legal action against the city. Last week, several members of the Lansing City Council demanded that Mr. Gillespie require contractors to sign wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs) on the over […]
Why Do Private Corporations and Developers in California Sign Project Labor Agreements? San Diego Provides a Clue
In October 2001, the California Research Bureau released a “study” commissioned by California State Senate Pro Tem and Big Labor advocate John Burton (D-San Francisco) about Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). As you can imagine, this report was full of logical fallacies, but fulfilled the intention of Sen. Burton to get an “authoritative” study to support PLAs […]
ABC of California Appears on FOX News and Union Greenmail Exposed by New York Times
Following The New York Times piece exposing greenmail — a union tactic to hijack green construction and implement wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements on energy related projects in California (“Labor Sees Green in Solar Plants in California: A Move to Put the Union Label on Solar Power Plants,” 6/19) — FOX News Channel’s Neil Cavuto did […]
NYC Developers Say PLAs Save Less Than Claimed
According to this 4/30/09 NY Times article by Charles V. Bagli, New York City’s real estate developers, contractors and construction unions have been trying to negotiate wage concessions and other cost saving measures that labor and political spindoctors are touting as a solution to revive New York’s stalled construction and real estate market. The writers here at TheTruthAboutPLAs.com affectionately refer to […]
Virginia Building Trades Pressure Dominion Virginia Power for Project Labor Agreement
A TruthAboutPLAs.com blog reader forwarded the below story about Virginia State Building & Construction Trades Council members engaged in a corporate campaign against Dominion Virginia Power. Those experienced with PLAs know that the goal of these campaigns is to create a public relations headache for private construction owners such as corporations like VA Dominion Power so […]