A political appointee of Ohio governor Ted Strickland (D-OH) has strong-armed local school boards in “arm-twisting sessions” to give contracts to big labor unions. Ohio School Facilities Commission chief Richard Murray pushed Project Labor Agreements (PLA’s) which would result in $37 million in payments to a union he belongs to. Strickland changed state rules to impose PLA’s on local school boards, something his opponent John Kasich promises to repeal. The Murray scandal should be exhibit one on why Project Labor Agreements are a bad idea.
On August 10, 2010, By NRTWC Staff
On July 23, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
In Traditional Big Labor Stronghold, Union-Only PLA’s Under Fire
(Source: July 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)
If you want to make a Massachusetts taxpayer shudder, just say the words “Big Dig.”
Onetime "Big Dig" enthusiast Charlie Baker is touting his opposition to union-only PLA boondoggles as he campaigns for the Massachusetts governorship this year. Bay State voters may conclude: "Better late than never!" Credit: John Tlumacki/Boston Globe
For years now, the “Big Dig,” officially referred to as the Central/Artery Tunnel Project, has been widely recognized as a poorly constructed, extraordinarily expensive boondoggle.
The “Big Dig” tunnel system was conceived in the 1970′s to replace Boston’s aging elevated six-lane Central Artery and improve access to Logan Airport and Boston Harbor. In 1987, Congress voted to furnish federal taxpayer funds, and ground was first broken in 1991.
To the dismay of independent construction employees and firms and Right to Work advocates, Massachusetts politicians announced that the “Big Dig” would be subject to a union-only “project labor agreement” (PLA).
Construction firm owners who wished to bid on the project, whether unionized or union-free, (more…)
On July 6, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
First, the New York Times wrote an article detailing how even some liberal Democrats are tired of the union bosses continued squeezing of the taxpayers; and now the Boston Globe has weighed in against the enactment of an anti-competitive Project Labor Agreement (PLA) on a three-quarters of a billion dollar improvement project for the University of Massachusetts:
Project labor agreements clearly limit the number of firms that can compete for work, at both the contracting and subcontracting level, and that deprives the project of potential low bidders. But defenders of such labor agreements tout the economic benefits of a smooth-running, on-time project, insisting that the pacts help maintain “labor peace’’ — a term with vaguely threatening intimations.
Maintaining labor standards is laudable. Restricting bids simply to promote unions, without a strong rationale for doing so, is not. Unfortunately, the UMass decision, and Patrick’s support for it, seems more the latter than the former.
On June 22, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
Committee President Mark Mix: The Right to Work movement and its allies are challenging President Obama’s 2009 executive order promoting union-only "project labor agreements" on federal taxpayer-funded public works.
(Source: June 2010 NRTWC Newsletter)
Ohio Town Council Cuts Through Big Labor/White House Fog
Marietta, which has only about 15,000 residents, but enjoys a place of honor as the oldest city of any size in Ohio, is located more than 230 miles outside the Washington, D.C., Beltway.
And from the vantage point of Marietta’s community building at Lookout Park, where the town council considered adoption of a so-called “project labor agreement” (PLA) on May 13, it appears to be far easier to see and state the obvious than it is at the White House or on Capitol Hill.
This spring, building trades union bosses lobbied furiously to convince the council’s seven members to impose a Big Labor PLA on employees and firms seeking to participate in the renovation of the town’s former Ohio Bureau of Employment Services building into a new municipal court facility.
Parkersburg Marietta Construction and Building Trades Council union President Bill Hutchinson claimed, time and again, that the reason he and his cohorts were twisting arms to get a PLA was to ensure that “local” workers got the jobs.
Finally, at the council’s May 13 meeting, Councilman Jon Grimm decided to test building trades union bosses’ sincerity.
Mr. Grimm called attention to the provision in the PLA mandating that 50% of any contractor’s employees be registered with the union and pay union dues, even if they weren’t union members, and didn’t want to join. (more…)
On June 4, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
The Wall Street Journal weighs in on the Obama big labor contracting kickback scheme to hand government contracts to unionized companies:
There’s almost a direct correlation these days between the Obama Administration’s complaints about “special interests” and its own fealty to such interests. Consider its latest decree that federal contractors must be union shops.
The federal rule, which went live yesterday, implements an executive order President Obama signed within weeks of taking office. It encourages federal agencies to require “project labor agreements” for all construction projects larger than $25 million. This means that only contractors that agree to union representation are eligible for work financed by the U.S. taxpayer.
Only 15% of the nation’s construction workers are unionized, so from now on the other 85% will have to forgo federal work for having exercised their right to not join a union. This is a raw display of political favoritism, and at the expense of an industry experiencing 27% unemployment. “This is nothing but a sop to the White House’s big donors,” says Brett McMahon, vice president at Miller & Long Concrete Construction, a nonunion contractor. “We’ve seen this so many times now, and how many times does it have the union label? Every time.” (more…)
On June 4, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
By signing Executive Order 13502, the president is using taxpayer dollars to give big labor union bosses an expensive kickback that will drive up the cost of federal construction by as much as 20% and dramatically expand the number of construction workers under union monopoly control – not to mention the union dues and fees. When it comes to helping his Big Labor buddies, cost to the taxpayers or rank and file workers doesn’t seem to matter.
On June 1, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
This editorial from the Pittsburgh Tribune says it all when it comes to the President and his friends, the labor union bosses:
Rewarding Big Labor for political support, the Obama administration is virtually shutting nonunion contractors out of federal construction projects worth at least $25 million — and sticking taxpayers with untold millions in higher costs.
Just weeks after taking office, President Obama signed an executive order encouraging use of project labor agreements (PLAs), which require contractors to agree to union representation and work rules. A federal rule implementing that order took effect May 12, benefiting the 15 percent of construction workers who are unionized — and hurting the 85 percent who aren’t.
This, in an industry with 27 percent unemployment. And with study after study showing PLAs hike costs 10 percent to 20 percent — and the rule essentially ending open, competitive bidding for federal construction contracts — taxpayers will feel plenty of pain, too.
But never mind. This White House has major political backers to pay off — by giving organized labor a stranglehold on federal construction contracts that, by the way, practically guarantees increased contributions to union retirees’ underfunded pension plans.
This new rule is, as The Wall Street Journal put it, “a raw display of political favoritism.” And a sickening one at that. [Emphasis added]
On April 14, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has approved a policy initiated by President Barack Obama’s Executive Order 13502, encouraging federal agencies to discriminate against nonunion workers and employers by adopting so-called “project labor agreements” (PLAs) on all federal construction projects costing the taxpayers over $25 million. Mark Mix, president of the National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation, released the following statement about the policy.
“The Obama Administration’s policy is a slap in the face to the vast majority of construction workers who have chosen not to unionize. Qualified nonunion contractors whose workers have opted against unionization will be locked out from large-scale construction projects. The true purpose of so-called project labor agreements is simple: to impose unwanted union boss control on workers from the top-down.
“Rather than encouraging a competitive and open bidding process to ensure the American taxpayers get the best deal, the White House favors using federal contracts to reward Big Labor’s political machine. The policy is nothing more than payback for the billion dollars the union bosses spent electing Barack Obama and other forced-unionism proponents in the last election cycle.”
On April 5, 2010, By NRTW Committee Staff
The website Truth About PLAs has uncovered a letter from an AFL-CIO official showing the link between labor contributions and official actions by government officials promoting union-only hiring policies. The letter states:
“Organized Labor and the Democratic Party have by tradition supported each other over the last 72 years. In the past several months, however, this has not been the case in Prince George’s County. Labor has come under attack by Prince George’s County Democratic Party leadership in the form of disparaging statements made by the Chair and Vice Chair of the County Democratic Central Committee. This has disappointed and angered the members of the labor community. Also disappointing is the lack of public support, since October of last year, from other elected officials in the County. Many of you have been endorsed and been given money and support by labor unions. You reach out to Labor when you needed support and labor faithfully provided that support. Unfortunately, it appears that we cannot expect that support to be reciprocal.”
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