Mass Lawmakers Give Project Labor Agreements the Green Light After Legal Defeat and Bad Press
Massachusetts lawmakers have passed legislation giving local and state government stakeholders the green light to mandate anti-competitive and costly project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded construction projects. The legislative maneuver follows a decision from a Massachusetts court that struck down a government-mandated PLA for violating state competitive bidding laws. On November 14, 2024, Massachusetts lawmakers approved […]
Prominent Democrats Oppose Policies Mandating Project Labor Agreements
In today’s hyper-partisan political environment, it’s rare for policy to die on its own merits when it is good for party politics. Think about how harmful government-mandated project labor agreements must be if prominent Democrats are thumbing their noses at these Biden-Harris policies and publicly resisting legislation that benefits their most prominent union donors.
Independent Study Confirms Project Labor Agreements Increase Costs and Delay Affordable Housing Projects
A new study on the effects of controversial government-mandated project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded affordable housing projects found that the total development costs of projects subject to PLAs were 21% more expensive, on average, than non-PLA projects. The study also found that the PLA projects took 27% longer to complete, on average, compared to similar […]
House Oversight Committee Hears the Truth About Biden/Harris Project Labor Agreement Schemes on Taxpayer-Funded Construction Projects
Associated Builders and Contractors June 27, 2024, testified before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Accountability Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation, calling on Congress to pass the Fair and Open Competition Act (H.R. 1209/S. 537) and reject the Biden/Harris administration’s controversial policies pushing government-mandated project labor agreements for federal and federally assisted construction projects funded by […]
Boston Globe Editorial: Project Labor Agreements Are Bad Policy
This scathing May 28, 2024, Boston Globe editorial headline says it all, Project Labor Agreements are Bad Policy. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com couldn’t agree more. It’s one of dozens of editorials by major newspapers exposing these anti-competitive and costly schemes for what they really are. Check it out: It’s one of the most predictable of economic impulses. Facing […]
Lawsuit Flushes Project Labor Agreement Scheme on Massachusetts Wastewater Facility
ABC’s Massachusetts chapter and a coalition of local merit shop contractors successfully blocked the Springfield Water and Sewer Commission’s scheme for a project labor agreement mandate on a $325 million water filtration plant. “Notwithstanding the lip service the PLA pays to being open to all bidders, it most assuredly is not,” wrote Hampden Superior Court […]
DC Council Saddles More City Construction With Project Labor Agreement Schemes
On May 7, 2024, the D.C. Council approved controversial legislation, the Revised Labor Agreement Cost Threshold Amendment Act of 2024. Bill 25-469 lowers the cost threshold from $75 million to $50 million for the required use of inflationary and anti-competitive project labor agreements on construction contracts procured by the District of Columbia. D.C. Council Chairman […]
Biden Policies on Project Labor Agreements and Apprenticeship Exacerbate Construction Industry Skilled Labor Shortage
The construction industry is projecting a shortage of more than half a million skilled workers in 2024. It is also facing materials cost inflation of more than 41% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, continued supply chain disruptions and uncertainty caused by a series of controversial Biden administration regulations harming the construction industry and […]
ABC Files Motion For Preliminary Injunction Against President Biden’s Anti-Competitive Project Labor Agreement Rule for Federal Construction Projects
On April 26, Associated Builders and Contractors and its Florida First Coast chapter filed a motion for preliminary injunction as part of its lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida in Jacksonville in response to the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council’s Dec. 22, 2023, final rule—and the related Dec. 18, 2023, […]
Pennsylvania Gov. Shapiro Pushes Project Labor Agreement Schemes on Taxpayer-Funded Construction Projects
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro issued a March 27 directive encouraging state agencies to require the use of wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements on taxpayer-funded construction projects. Effective April 1, 2024, the Pennsylvania Department of General Services will supervise executive agencies’ evaluation of all contract solicitations to identify projects requiring “prompt completion” and “qualified labor” […]