After only a few months in office, the Obama Administration issued a controversial executive order that encourages federal agencies to use discriminatory Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) when allocating lucrative government contracts. For those of you unfamiliar with the term, PLAs give unionized companies preferential access to government work, which allows federal agencies to pressure unwilling employers to turn their workers over to union bosses. Fortunately, the first federal PLA issued under this executive order has just been defeated in New Hampshire:

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) today announced that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has canceled its solicitation for bids to construct a new Job Corps Center in Manchester, N.H. under a government-mandated project labor agreement (PLA). The cancellation came in response to a protest filed with the Government Accountability Office Office (GAO) by ABC member North Branch Construction . . .

As the Associated Builders and Contractors' release points out, PLAs cut nonunion companies out of the bidding process, making federal projects more susceptible to wasteful union work rules and massive cost overruns. The Foundation has filed public comments opposing the use of PLAs with the Department of Labor. Although the DoL's response has been marked by shady union boss maneuvering, we hope the Administration will take note and rescind its discriminatory executive order. (Of course, we won't be holding our breath given how close the administration is to Big Labor).

For more information, here's a CNN segment on PLAs that includes an interview with Foundation Vice President Stefan Gleason:

Union officials are apparently getting inside information from the Administration, and the National Right to Work Foundation is demanding the documents to prove it.

Not long ago, the Foundation filed formal comments opposing the Obama Administration's attempt to push government contractors into Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), which discriminate against nonunion employees in favor of unionized contractors.

Along with several other concerned organizations, the Foundation submitted its comments within a prescribed window period that ended on August 13. Interestingly enough, the two biggest construction industry unions - the Building & Construction Trades Department union and the Laborers' Union - evidently failed to submit a response before August 13. After the deadline expired, however, the Administration suddenly announced a special extension to the window period.  Because many organizations who oppose PLAs publicly released their comments after the deadline had passed, this gives union operatives the opportunity to file comments in support of PLAs AFTER reviewing anti-PLA comments from organizations like the National Right to Work Foundation. 

Moreover, officials from the Building & Construction Trades union had the gall to admit to the Bureau of National Affairs that they didn't plan on filing their PLA comments until mid-September, which strongly implies that key union operatives knew about the extension beforehand. 

Given these questionable circumstances, it seems likely that this move was planned ahead of time to give union operatives a leg-up.

There can be little doubt there is an unethical and incestuous relationship between Big Labor and Obama Administration.  To further prove this fact, the Foundation has filed a formal Freedom of Information Act request to obtain documents showing Big Labor collaborated with the Administration to extend the comment period at the last minute, allowing union bosses to review previously-submitted comments against PLAs.

We'll keep you updated as this story develops. 

Foundation VP Stefan Gleason appeared on CNN Wednesday with Lou Dobbs as part of a piece on the Obama Administration's new Project Labor Agreement Executive Order, which discriminates against the vast majority of construction workers who have not chosen to unionize. The executive order is likely to result in hundreds of millions of dollars in new forced union dues, while jacking up the costs shouldered by taxpayers. Check it out:

Dobbs sums it up nicely at the end when he observes that "this is a massive windfall for organized labor."

America's most notorious union-only project labor agreement (PLA), Boston's "Big Dig," will come to completion with the end of 2007. What a bittersweet day for citizens of Boston. The Associated Press puts it this way:

"Don't expect any champagne toasts."

As also noted by the AP, the Big Dig's history was "littered with wrong turns" such as a major tunnel leak in 2004, as well as the tragic death of a motorist in 2006.

Financially, the Big Dig sapped taxpayers for $14.8 billion, over five and a half times the original cost estimate of $2.6 billion.

This train wreck of a public construction project should serve as "exhibit A" of the gluttonous waste inherent in PLAs. Such projects are also a "lose-lose" for employees that wish to remain nonunion because they are blackballed from working, as well as for the taxpayers forced to foot the bill.

The Philadelphia Inquirer today reports:

Accusing trade unions of standing in the way of minority hiring objectives, City Council yesterday declared the $700 million Convention Center expansion open to nonunion contractors and workers - an unprecedented gesture in a city dominated by organized labor.

Union officials commonly shut out minority and nonunion contractors from such projects through so-called "project labor agreements." These cynical pacts require all contractors, whether they are unionized or not, to subject themselves and their employees to unionization in order to work on a government-funded construction project.

For more information on the harmful effects of PLAs, see this study from the National Institute for Labor Relations Research.