Massachusetts

USACE Louisville District PLA Survey for Westover AFB, MA Due July 12

0 July 8, 2019  Federal Construction

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued a survey soliciting comments from the construction industry about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) for a the repair repair by replacement of Runway 05/23 and overruns at Westover Air Reserve Base. ABC National, encourages the merit shop contracting community to respond to this PLA survey. […]

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USACE Mobile District Project Labor Agreement Survey Due May 9

0 April 28, 2017  Federal Construction

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued a survey soliciting comments from the construction industry about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreements (PLA) on projects associated with U.S. Army Medical Command facilities in Maryland, Delaware, Texas, Massachusetts, and Alabama. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com encourages the merit shop contracting community to respond to this […]

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USACE Project Labor Agreement Survey For Hanscom AFB School Due Jan. 5

0 December 28, 2015  Federal Construction, School Construction

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) has issued a survey soliciting comments from the construction industry about the potential use of a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) on a contract to demolish the existing Hanscom primary school and construct a new primary school at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, MA. TheTruthAboutPLAs.com encourages the merit shop […]

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USACE Project Labor Agreement Survey for New England MATOC Jobs Due June 2

0 May 14, 2014  Federal Construction

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New England District is requesting comments from the construction community addressing a potential government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) for federal Multiple Award Task Order Contracts (MATOC) to build, renovate and repair military and other federal facilities throughout six New England states. Those states include Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode […]

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Project Labor Agreement Fails at Local Hire on New Bedford Dredging Project

0 October 2, 2013  State & Local Construction

Big Labor bosses and government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) advocates frequently claim that PLAs are the only way to guarantee local hire on construction projects. Of course, this is another myth promoted by special interests to convince lawmakers and taxpayers that there is a public benefit to anti-competitive and costly PLA schemes, which funnel lucrative […]

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Great Scott: Projects Bid With and Without PLA Mandates Show PLAs Increase Costs and Reduce Competition

3 April 18, 2013  School Construction, State & Local Construction

While researching the use of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) in West Virginia in advance of Wednesday’s deadline for a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) survey about a potential PLA mandate on a large-scale federal project in Harpers Ferry, W.Va., TheTruthAboutPLAs.com went back in time to revisit another real-world example of how discriminatory PLA […]

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USACE PLA Survey for New Bedford Harbor Project Due April 23

0 April 17, 2013  Federal Construction

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) New England District issued a survey requesting feedback from the construction industry about a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA) on a contract to dig a Confined Aquatic Disposal (CAD) cell as part of a project to dredge the Acushnet River and New Bedford, Mass., harbor. To review and respond to the […]

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Op-Ed: Gov’s Insistence on PLAs Excludes Majority of State’s Skilled Labor

0 August 2, 2012  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure, Uncategorized

The controversy over Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick’s (D) decision to require contractors to sign a wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreement (PLA) as a condition of performing work on the $285 million reconstruction of I-95’s Whittier Bridge continued to attract attention and remind Bostonians of past PLA failures in their community this week.     Greg Beeman, president of […]

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Boston Globe Editorial Blasts Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements and Patrick Administration

0 July 24, 2012  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure

An editorial in today’s Boston Globe decimates flimsy arguments in favor of government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) and skewers Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) for requiring PLAs on major state projects, including the Whittier Memorial Bridge, which TheTruthAboutPLAs.com covered last week (“Project labor agreements: Mass. taxpayers lose again,” 7/24/12): Although it lacks any compelling reasons for doing so, […]

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Gov. Patrick Pushes PLA on Whittier Memorial Bridge as Big Dig Costs Balloon to $24.3 Billion

0 July 16, 2012  State & Local Construction, Transportation & Infrastructure

Insanity is often described as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick (D) should revisit his position on a costly and unfortunate policy favoring construction trade unions or expect more waste, discrimination and insanity in the Bay State.

Last week, the ballooning costs of the Big Dig grabbed headlines while Gov. Patrick was criticized for restricting competition for construction contracts to build the $285 million Whittier Memorial Bridge across the Merrimack River to firms willing to sign a union-only government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA).

Meanwhile, last week state lawmakers learned Big Dig costs have mushroomed to more than $24.3 billion, harming the state’s ability to fund other critical transportation projects and create additional construction jobs. Funded by federal and Massachusetts taxpayers, the Big Dig is the most expensive and infamous government-mandated PLA job of all time.

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