Why the Liberal OC is wrong about project labor agreements

Union thugs in orange county

Union thugs like PLAs – because they shut everyone else out of bidding on public works

Leave it to the goofballs at the Fib OC blog to defend project labor agreeements.  How is it fair to shut non-union contractors out of public works?  Less than 16% of workers belong to unions, so PLA’s shut out the majority of our work force. 

And if you think that PLAs give work to local labor, guess again.  The unions end up trucking in outside workers.

Here is how the O.C. Register put it in an editorial, “On Tuesday, the Orange County Board of Supervisors dealt a blow to backroom union deals that squelch competition and raise costs for government public works projects.”

You want to know more about how PLAs increase the cost of public works, while screwing most workers?  Click here to read the Truth About PLAs.

Union-only PLAs eliminate merit shop contractors from competing for and winning construction projects. Construction contracts subject to union-only PLAs are almost always awarded exclusively to unionized contractors and their all-union workforces.

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 15.6 percent of America’s private construction workforce belongs to a union. This means union-only PLAs would discriminate against more than eight out of 10 construction workers who would otherwise work on construction projects if not for a union-only PLA.

I could go on and on, but instead, here is what my old friend Eric Christen, who heads up the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction, had to say about the move by the O.C. Supervisors to ban County PLAs:

History was formally made yesterday when the Orange County Board of Supervisors, in a 5-0 smack down vote, codified into law our Open Competition and Anti-Discrimination Ordinance (Read the ordinance for yourself HERE). Yesterday’s vote was needed in order to fulfill the County’s Second Reading requirements and followed last week’s First Reading.

 Last week, with over 100 merit shop employees, contractors, and association reps in attendance, the Board voted 5-0 to move the issue to a Second Reading. Big Labor showed up in force last week as well (See HERE) and, as one supervisor told me afterwards, demonstrated a complete mastery of how not to persuade people.  LOL. 

 From Big Labor Grand Poobah Richard Slawson using his three minutes of public comments to demonstrate his petulant childishness by referring to CFEC as “The Coalition for Un-Fair Employment in Construction” (get it?), to ACORN(!) actually showing their face in public to speak in support of Big Labor, the proponents of waste, fraud, and abuse were something to behold.  Yesterday they threw another temper tantrum and showed up in force again (with rats) only to accomplish nothing except help us out by making sure they weren’t out doing bad things somewhere  else.  Thanks guys. 

 Also a special thanks to Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) of California’s Kevin Dayton, ABC of Southern California’s Jackie Nutting and Sue McNeil, ABC of San Diego’s Bill Baber and Scott Crosby, the Western Electrical Contractors Association’s (WECA) Richard Markuson, and all those contractors and workers who took time to come and stand up for fairness.  CFEC appreciated it and I know the Supervisors did as well! 

 How We Arrived Here

 Two years ago I decided that it was time to put PLA proponents on the defensive and created a strategic plan titled Operation Permanent Offense (OPO).  One of the tactics of OPO is to implement PLA-bans all over California. Building on our PLA-ban we had voted into place in Fresno in 2000, our Open Competition and Anti-Discrimination Ordinance has now been perfected, polled, and, having now been passed in the OC, is ready to be unveiled and/or voted on in municipalities all over the state (all union bosses on this email will have to work to find out where they all are).  For instance the City of Chula Vista’s (San Diego County) voters will be voting on this ordinance in June of 2010 thanks to ABC of San Diego’s efforts to get more than enough signatures collected allowing it to be placed on the ballot.  Our polling shows it at 70% in the polls which means Big Labor will have to steal at least $2 million from their workers to have any chance of defeating it. (For those who want to know how they can SUPPORT this effort more to come soon.) OPO will be ongoing and will require help from all freedom loving, fair-minded citizens across California.  

 But today is a time for celebration and to give thanks to the OC Supervisors for being brave enough to take the next big step (after Fresno) in our effort to ban this PLA plague.  A special shout out especially goes to OC Supervisor John Moorlach who asked to take the lead on this issue and delivered.  Please take time to thank him and the other four Supervisors by emailing them today.  They can be reached at:

OC Supervisor Janet Nguyen – janet.nguyen@ocgov.com

OC Supervisor John Moorlach – john.moorlach@ocgov.com

OC Supervisor Bill Campbell – bill.campbell@ocgov.com

OC Supervisor Chris Norby – chris.norby@ocgov.com

OC Supervisor Patricia Bates – patbates@ocgov.com 

 This issue was covered heavily by various media outlets including the Los Angeles Times and Orange County Register (including a GREAT editorial!).  Below are those links.

  • Big Labor Covers Item in Local OC Collectivist Rag HERE  
  • LA Times Coverage HERE
  • Orange County Register Coverage HERE
  • (Outstanding!) Orange County Register Editorial HERE

About Admin

"Admin" is just editors Vern Nelson, Greg Diamond, or Ryan Cantor sharing something that they mostly didn't write themselves, but think you should see. Before December 2010, "Admin" may have been former blog owner Art Pedroza.