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 […]
SD Union-Tribune Urges SD Unified School District to “Scrap Union Payoff”
In a July 6 editorial, the San Diego Union-Tribune continues to hammer the San Diego Unified School District’s decision to utilize a wasteful and discriminatory union-only project labor agreements on school construction paid for by the $2.1 billion Proposition S. Here is an excerpt: Approving a PLA would be a betrayal of San Diego Unified’s […]
Update: Labor Dispute Saves More Proposition S Construction from PLAs
VoiceofSanDiego.org is reporting that union disputes will allow more Proposition S funded construction to move forward without a project labor agreement. This is great news for the citizens funding the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). Apparently, “Jurisdictional problems” between the carpenters union and other construction unions have delayed the signing of the PLA between […]
“The Kids? Bah!”
As chronicled on this site, the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) recently approved a project stabilization agreement (A PLA by another name) for construction funded by the recently adopted Proposition S, a $2.1 billion bond. We believe this is nothing more than a handout to Big Labor and apparently, the San Diego Union-Tribune editorial […]
ABC Will Tackle Challenge of Derailing San Diego Unified School District’s New Project Labor Agreement
The repercussions of the November 2008 elections hit the San Diego construction industry hard on May 26, when the Board of Education for the San Diego Unified School District voted 3-2 to require contractors to sign a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) with unions for much of the school construction funded by the $2.4 billion Proposition […]
Profiles in Courage
Another profile in courage is taking place in San Diego, where a proposed union-only project labor agreement on all projects funded by Proposition S, a $2.1 billion bond approved by the voters, was released at 5pm on the Friday before Memorial Day weekend. The San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Board then scheduled a vote […]
If PLAs are so Great, Why not Debate?
The Lincoln Club of San Diego County and the San Diego Taxpayers Association are hosting a debate on PLAs on the San Diego Unified school district’s $2.1 million proposition S. Representatives from Associated Builders and Contractors and Associated General Contractors have agreed to participate in the debate. There to represent Big Labor will be… So […]
Community Fights San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Project Labor Agreement
If you live in the San Diego area you have likely read newspaper articles or seen TV reports about a controversial 3-2 vote taken by the San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) Board Members to direct staff to negotiate a PLA on construction work funded by Proposition S, a $2.1 billion construction bond passed by […]
In their words: Victims of the SDUSD Project Labor Agreement
The PLA on $2.1 billion worth of San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD) construction projects funded by Proposition S is going to prevent qualified local merit shop contractors and apprentices from working on school construction paid for by their own tax dollars unless SDUSD school board members reconsider their support for this costly and discriminatory PLA. […]