PLA’s Stop Projects

It appears that as much as the economy has created the slowdown in the construction industry, politics is contributing to the process.

A recent article on ForConstructionPros.com highlights recent Congressional hearings regarding PLAs. PLAs are “project labor agreements” and when they are made part of the bidding process, require that companies that bid on a contract with the federal government must have union workers, pay union scale and include union collective bargaining agreements. PLA’s were part of a Presidential Executive Order.

And you know who wins in this scenario … the unions.

According to the article, a couple of projects have been canceled due to the lack of qualified bidders (i.e. union contractors).

With the construction industry needing as much work as possible, why are politicians creating roadblocks? Suggestion … reach out to your senators and congressional representatives and explain to them that any qualified contractor should be able to bid for a federal project.  The more projects, the more jobs. Everyone wins (sound like a low cost jobs program, although it probably doesn’t help court union votes or generate union membership fees).