An editorial in the Williamsport Sun Gazette questions the “source, timing and validity” of Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell’s remarks in his eighth and final budget address that chided “special interest groups for stymieing his legislative efforts to curb special interests” (”Timing suspicious on lobbyist crackdown,” 3/19). It also calls government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) a “rigged [...]
TheTruthAboutPLAs.com has long maintained that government-mandated project labor agreements (PLAs) are one of the purest forms of payback to special interests. Sometimes it is hard to believe that PLAs are even legal. And as this example will demonstrate, elected officials go to great lengths to justify their paybacks to special interests.
Matthew J. Brouillette, president and [...]
By BenBrubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Benner Township, Centre County, Commonwealth Foundation, Department of General Services, Keystone Research Center, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Inquirer, PLA Basics, PLA Fact, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, Prisons, Project Labor Agreements, Rendell, Rockview, The Philadelphia Independent, Union Propaganda Machine
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Pennsylvania’s Graterford Prison project labor agreement (PLA) controversy is in the Philadelphia newspapers again. No progress has been made on the construction of this important project.
Looking for something to blame?
It’s the PLA, stupid!
Looking for someone to blame?
Blame Big Labor’s lobbyists for pushing costly, job-killing special interest PLAs and blame public officials for allowing these backroom kickback schemes to [...]
By BenBrubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Commonwealth Foundation, Department of General Services, Graterford, Legal Challenge, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Inquirer, PLA victim, PLAs, PLAs are political payoffs to union leaders, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Increase Costs, Prisons, Project Labor Agreements, Rendell, The Pennsylvania Independent, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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February 23, 2010 – 4:03 pm
Pennsylvania Senator Lloyd Smucker got a chance to offer his thoughts on wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs) at a Feb. 16 Senate Appropriations Committee hearing with Department of General Services (DGS) Secretary James Creedon and Dep. Secretary for Procurement/Appropriations Anne Rung.
As regular readers recall, DGS lead on effort on behalf of the Rendell [...]
By Andy Conlin
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Department of General Services, Hearing, Pennsylvania, PLAs, PLAs Increase Costs, Prisons, Rendell, Rockview, Save the Endangered Species, State Legislation, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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February 5, 2010 – 2:45 pm
At a Feb. 2 House Education and Labor Committee hearing, U.S. Representative Glenn ‘GT’ Thompson (R-PA) questioned U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis on President Obama’s pro-project labor agreement (PLA) Executive Order 13502 for federal construction contracts and asked why the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) mandated a PLA on a Job Corps Center in Manchester, N.H.
After a protest was [...]
By BenBrubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Education and Labor, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Hearing, Pennsylvania, PLAs, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Glenn Thompson, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis
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December 22, 2009 – 9:43 am
More and more people are starting to notice President Obama’s handout (Executive Order 13502) to the construction unions. This time, it is Glen Meakem. Mr. Meakem is an economic innovator, Gulf War veteran, Harvard graduate and a radio host on several stations in Pennsylvania – and he thinks PLAs are “morally offensive.”
Here is an excerpt from [...]
By Andy Conlin
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Executive Order 13502, Gus Perea, keystone, Op-Ed, Pennsylvania, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, President Obama, Radio Interview, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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December 18, 2009 – 7:16 am
The Central Penn Business Journal’s Op-Ed by Gus Perea warns of the economic consequences of Big Labor paybacks via Executive Order 13502 and project labor agreements (PLAs) (”Pennsylvania Taxpayers and Employers: Beware of Big Labor Paybacks,” 12/17).
On the rare occasion that a nonunion contractor wins a PLA contract, the order would bully its employees into joining a [...]
By BenBrubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Beacon Hill Institute, Central Penn Business Journal, Executive Order 13502, Federal Construction, Federal Contracting, Gus Perea, Op-Ed, Pennsylvania, PLAs, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements
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December 10, 2009 – 9:35 am
Yesterday the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee held a hearing on project labor agreements (PLAs) and legislation (House Bill 2010, The Open Contracting Act) introduced by Reps. Stan Saylor (R-York) and John Bear (R-Lancaster) that would prohibit government-mandated PLAs on PA and PA-funded construction projects.
PA lawmakers, nonunion contractors, employees and other business groups and construction associations testified [...]
By BenBrubeck
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Posted in Uncategorized
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Tagged Groups Opposed to PLAs, Hearing, Pennsylvania, PLA Video, PLAs, PLAs Cut Competition, PLAs Discriminate, PLAs Increase Costs, Project Labor Agreements, Rep. Dick Stevenson, Rep. Jerry Stern, Rep. John Bear, Rep. Matt Gabler, Save the Endangered Species, Saylor, State Legislation, Union Contractors Opposed to PLAs, Union-only PLAs harm local workers
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December 9, 2009 – 7:25 am
Today the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee will hold a hearing on project labor agreements (PLAs) and legislation (House Bill 2010, The Open Contracting Act) introduced by Reps. Stan Saylor (R-York) and John Bear (R-Lancaster) that would prohibit government-mandated PLAs on PA and PA-funded construction projects.
The committee is scheduled to hear testimony from stakeholders in [...]
November 18, 2009 – 1:02 pm
Commonwealth Foundation fellow Adam Cole published a great commentary discussing wasteful and discriminatory project labor agreements (PLAs) on November 17 titled, “Pennsylvania: An Unequal Employer”
While this commentary covers many of the main arguments against these Big Labor handouts, that government-mandated PLAs increase construction costs and discriminates against women, minorities and nonunion construction workers, it also [...]
