Union-only PLAs harm local workers

House Defends Principles of Fair and Open Competition with Passage of Amendment Restricting Government-Mandated PLAs on NDAA Authorized Projects

5 May 21, 2012  Federal Construction

It was a historic week for the merit shop contracting community in the U.S. House of Representatives. Thursday, by a bipartisan vote of 211 to 209, the House passed an amendment offered by Rep. Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) and cosponsored by Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2013 […]

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Data Shows Project Labor Agreement on Phase 2 of Silver Line Could Hurt Virginia’s Construction Industry

0 May 18, 2012  Federal Construction, State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure

New evidence suggests a union-favoring project labor agreement (PLA) on Phase 1 of the Silver Line Metrorail project may be responsible for the creation of fewer jobs for Virginia’s construction workforce. Dulles Transit Partners (DTP), the prime contractor building Phase 1 of the Silver Line, recently shared data with the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA), the […]

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Prop. A Face-off on KPBS in San Diego

0 May 11, 2012  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

Must see video from San Diego. Eric Christen, executive director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction (CFEC) recently debated former San Diego City Council Member Donna Frye on the merits of Proposition A, which would ban government-mandated project labor agreements on city funded projects. To learn more, visit their website www.fairandopencompetition.com or their […]

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Virginia Passes Law Curtailing Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreement Schemes

2 April 24, 2012  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure

In a win for taxpayers and Virginia’s merit shop construction industry, on April 9, Gov. Bob McDonnell (R) signed the Fair and Open Competition in Government Contracting Act (HB 33) into law. H.B. 33 prohibits the Commonwealth of Virginia and recipients of state assistance from mandating project labor agreements (PLAs) and enacting PLA preferences discriminating […]

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The Dismal Future of Construction Industry Multiemployer Pension Plans

1 April 23, 2012  Federal Construction, State & Local Construction

A new report shining light on the dreadful health of multi-employer pension plans (MEPPs) for U.S. union workers and retirees estimates such plans are only 52 percent funded, with a $369 billion shortfall. MEPPs in the construction industry are responsible for a significant amount of pension shortfalls.

Construction MEPPs are responsible for about $167 billion (or 47 percent) worth of PBGC-insured MEPP underfunding. Abd it could get worse. Fifty-five percent of the 1,488 MEPPs insured by the PBGC are in the construction industry. The largest number of employees from any industry, about 3.885 million or 37.4 percent of all PBGC-insured MEPP participants (workers and retirees), are from the construction industry.

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Santa Fe City Council Adopts the State’s First PLA Mandate

1 April 2, 2012  State & Local Construction

There was a distributing development in Santa Fe, N.M., on Feb. 29, when the city council quietly adopted a policy requiring community workforce agreements (CWAs) on all projects costing more than $500,000. A community workforce agreement is no different than a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA); it just goes by another name. Washington, […]

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“Skip the PLA”

0 March 30, 2012  School Construction, State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

Last week, we covered the numerous project labor agreement (PLA)-related events that have occurred in Connecticut in recent weeks. On Friday, March 23, Meriden Record-Journal op-ed writer Eric Cotton authored a strong piece urging the city not to require a wasteful and discriminatory PLA on two future school construction projects.  Here are the highlights from his […]

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Victory for Taxpayers – Fair and Open Competition Saved in Ventura County: Disagreements Among County Supervisors Kills Project Labor Agreement Proposed for $250 Million Hospital

1 March 13, 2012  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

At a special meeting this morning (Tuesday, March 13), the Ventura County Board of Supervisors rejected (on a 2-2-1 vote) a motion from the board chairman to require contractors to sign a project labor agreement (PLA) oriented toward the demands of the Tri-Counties Building and Construction Trades Council in order to work on a $250 […]

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Out of Nowhere: Project Labor Agreement and Community Benefit Agreement Tacked on End of Motion for New Sacramento Kings Basketball Arena

2 March 9, 2012  State & Local Construction, Uncategorized

On March 6, when Sacramento City Councilman Robert King Fong made the motion to the Sacramento City Council for approval of a new $391 million arena for the Sacramento Kings professional basketball team, he generally read the posted agenda item verbatim, but then tacked on an additional, obviously pre-prepared provision out of nowhere: …and lastly, […]

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Airport Authority Continues Big Labor Favors on Dulles Metro Silver Line

0 February 23, 2012  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure

Last week, the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA) gave Big Labor Bosses a generous Valentine’s Day gift. On Wednesday, MWAA passed a resolution adopting a new policy needlessly favoring contractors that submit proposals promising to use a union project labor agreement (PLA) to construct Phase 2 of the $2.8 billion Silver Line metro extension project […]

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