Unions Fail in Effort to Recall Fiscally Conservative Councilman in Oceanside, CA
On Tuesday, December 8, voters in the City of Oceanside, California soundly repudiated the union political agenda by rejecting a union-backed and union-funded recall effort against Councilman Jerry Kern. As California Republican Party Chairman wrote on December 9 in www.FlashReport.org: In a crushing defeat that will cause reassessment of labor’s political muscle locally, the union-led […]
Drive To Bring Open Competition Amendment To San Diego Voters Begins
Not to be outdone by their neighbors in Chula Vista, San Diego residents – led by City Councilman Carl DeMaio – kicked off their campaign to bring fair and open competition to San Diego’s city contracting. Construction stakeholders gathered with Councilman DeMaio to start the drive to gather the 96,000 signatures needed to put the […]
Op-Ed: If You Are Not Part Of A Union, You Need Not Apply For These Jobs
It is important to recognize those who are standing up for fair and open competition and against special interest handouts. One such individual is San Diego City Councilman Carl DeMaio, who penned an on-point op-ed titled, “Quality Jobs For All San Diegans” in today’s San Diego Daily Transcript. Councilman DeMaino recognizes that a key component […]
National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation Challenges Proposition S PSA Requirement
The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) is getting more resistance to their effort to discriminate against the vast majority of California’s private construction workforce that decided not to join a labor union. The National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation has filed a claim against the SDUSD arguing that the project stabilization agreement (PSA […]
Citizens of Chula Vista Will Vote on Fair and Open Competition Ordinance
The ABC San Diego Chapter announced on August 14 that the San Diego County Registrar of Voters had determined there were enough signatures for a Fair and Open Competition Ordinance voter initiative to qualify for the June 8, 2010 ballot. This ordinance would ensure that all responsible and capable contractors would be encouraged to bid […]
San Diego PLA News Wrap-up
There are several interesting developments in the fight for open competition in San Diego. San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Superintendent Terry Grier’s decision to take a new job in Houston, TX is no surprise to the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial board, who blame the local teachers union and their labor allies for pushing Mr. […]
Chula Vista Open Competition Ordinance Qualifies for June 2010 Ballot
The citizens of Chula Vista, California will have the opportunity to vote against Big Labor favoritism. ABC of San Diego’s petition to require open competition on city-funded construction projects received the required 10,399 signatures to be placed on the ballot in June 2010. If adopted, this ballot measure will prohibit wasteful and discriminatory union-only projects […]
San Diego Proposition S News: Contractor Group Files Lawsuit Against Wasteful and Discriminatory Government-Mandated PLA on Proposition S Projects AND Unified School District Board Forced to Approve Second PLA
Associated General Contractors (AGC) – San Diego filed a lawsuit July 30 against the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). The suit claims that provisions in the project stabilization agreement (a PLA by another name) approved by the School Board prevent non-union apprentices from working on projects funded by the $2.1 billion voter-approved Proposition S bond and amount to discrimination. In […]
Update: PLAs Are About Politics: the California Experience
After twelve years of fighting Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) at local governments in California, I’ve developed a set of axioms based on my experiences. One of these axioms is that PLAs are about politics, not logic. After all, what kind of logic would lead an elected official to establish work conditions that would discourage perfectly […]
State and Local PLA News Roundup: July 12-18
While much of this week’s attention focued on Obama administration attempts to encourage federal department and agency heads to utilize wasteful and discriminatory union-only project labor agreements, there have been PLA developments at the state and local levels that warrent attention as well. In Trumbull, CT subcontractors for the Trumbull High School renovation/reconstruction project have been selected. The local construction unions’ are […]