PLA Requirement Withdrawn from Ohio School Construction Projects
In a win for the taxpayers of Ohio, the Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) has officially decided not to require contractors to enter into a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) in order to work on the construction of two new dormitories for the Ohio Schools for the Blind and Deaf. While this development is not wholly unexpected, […]
Think Tank Attacks Project Labor Agreement Discrimination
Jim Waters, vice president of policy and communications for the Bluegrass Institute, Kentucky’s free-market think tank, penned an interesting column about the discriminatory nature of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs). Here is an excerpt from “Local PLAs bite the hand feeding the beast,” 9/24: Prejudice at the lunch counter may have disappeared, but other types of discrimination remain alive […]
Candidates Opposed to Project Labor Agreements Win Key Endorsements in Riverside County, California
The Riverside Press-Enterprise newspaper published an editorial (“3 for RCC,” 9/21/10) endorsing three candidates (two incumbents and a candidate running for an open seat) for the board of trustees of the Riverside Community College District, which serves residents of Riverside County, California. The editorial explicitly connected its endorsements to the “fiscal sobriety” of these three […]
Public Awareness Brings Down Ohio PLA
There is an old adage that the best weapon against wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs) is sunshine. This has once again proven true, this time in Ohio. Officials from the Ohio Schools For the Blind and For the Deaf have agreed to drop a PLA requirement that had been imposed on the upcoming […]
ABC Chapter Takes to the Airwaves to Call for OSFC Chief’s Ouster
The Northern Ohio Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors has launched a new radio ad campaign calling on Gov. Ted Strickland (D) to fire embattled Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) Executive Director Richard Murray. As TheTruthAboutPLAs.com readers know, Murray was the subject of a scathing Aug. 5 report by the Ohio Inspector General’s (IG) office […]
Tribune-Review: Students Get Lesson in “Consequences of Blowing off Homework and Disregarding Basic Economics”
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review’s editorial board offered its thoughts on the latest effort by Big Labor to monopolize construction work in the Pittsburgh area. This time, it is the Penn Hills School Board that has bended to the demands of local union bosses and required a project labor agreement (PLA) on an upcoming $130 million high school project. Here […]
Pittsburgh Area School District Approves Wasteful and Discriminatory PLA Requirement
The Pittsburgh-area Penn Hills School Board this week approved a policy requiring contractors to sign a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) as a condition of working on $150 million worth of upcoming school construction. Here is an excerpt from Associated Builders and Contractors Western Pennsylvania Chapter’s August 31 press release: PENN HILLS PLAYS […]
Ohio School Facilities Commission Controversy – Latest Developments
There are new developments in the controversy over Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) Executive Director Richard Murray’s effort to drive lucrative school construction contracts to Big Labor. As readers of TheTruthAboutPLAs.com are aware, the Ohio Inspector General’s (IG) office released a scathing report on August 5 that brought OSFC E.D. and former Laborers official Richard Murray’s efforts […]
Columbus Dispatch: OSFC Director’s Union Bias is Inexcusable
Today The Columbus Dispatch published another editorial blasting Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) director Richard Murray for engaging in numerous acts of “union bias” and steering lucrative school construction contracts to union contractors and union members via project labor agreements (PLAs). Murray has been the subject of an investigation by the Ohio Inspector General’s office TheTruthAboutPLAs.com covered here and here. […]
Dem Candidate for Pennsylvania Governor: CCAC PLA Requirement was “Probably Wrong”
Allegheny County Executive and gubernatorial candidate Dan Onorato (D) criticized the Community College of Allegheny County’s (CCAC) requirement that all bidders for the upcoming construction of a $21 million science building agree to sign a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) with Big Labor as a condition of performing work on this project. Here’s an […]