The Truth About Project Labor Agreements

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette interviewed Brett McMahon of ABC member Miller & Long Concrete about EFCA and President Obama’s discriminatory and costly Executive Order 13502 in a wrap-up article about the quad-annual AFL-CIO convention, which was held this year in Pittsburgh (“AFL-CIO aims to bring young people into unions,” 9/20).

The Associated Builders and Contractors, which represents nonunion construction companies, posted billboards in Pittsburgh this week targeting the AFL-CIO convention and asking President Barack Obama, who spoke to the delegates, to veto the Employee Free Choice Act, saying it would cost workers jobs and that union pension plans were running out of money.

Brett McMahon, vice president of a cement company and a spokesman for the Associated Builders and Contractors, said the unions bring with them work rules that are geared for another time. He said an example is the rule on some sites that only licensed electricians can plug in an extension cord.

“That doesn’t work for a 25- or 30-person contractor,” he said.

Mr. McMahon noted that only 7.6 percent of the private work force was unionized. He said it was because unions didn’t keep up with changes in the rest of the world.

He disagreed with federal rules that call for every project over $25 million to have a labor agreement because he said nonunionized companies would then be forced to pay into union pension plans and their own employees’ 401(k) plans. He said the union pension plans were underfunded, which is why they are trying to bring in younger workers.

The unions’ argument to the younger workers is that, without a contract, they don’t know if their jobs or benefits can disappear overnight.

You can view the ads here and here.

Mr. McMahon’s remarks are consistent with TheTruthAboutPLAs.com’s criticism of Secretary of Labor Solis’ endorsement of the federal government’s promotion of project labor agreements (PLAs) and Executive Order 13502 in front of the AFL-CIO crowd earlier last week.