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. […]
Project Labor Agreement News Round-Up
The Bulletin continued to cover the Pennsylvania Department of General Services’ decision to require a PLA on the $400 million Graterford prison project. Additionally, the Southeast Pennsylvania chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors launched a marketing campaign to inform the public about the impact of the Graterford prison project PLA on local workers and the […]
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 […]
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 […]
San Diego-Union Tribune Publishes “The PLA Plague” Editorial
During the past 10 years, many of California’s daily newspapers (including the Sacramento Bee, Oakland Tribune, Contra Costa Times, Orange County Register and San Diego Union-Tribune) have published editorials denouncing Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) proposed at local governments for public works projects. This is no surprise: anyone who looks objectively at how PLAs are promoted […]
“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 […]