Jason

Delivering on President Obama's promise to boost the labor movement, the administration has announced a $35 million federal construction project in New Hampshire that requires union representation for the workers and forces nonunion employees to pay dues and contribute to a union pension fund.

Mr. Obama issued an executive order in the first weeks of his presidency that would make the requirement, known as a "project labor agreement" or PLA, the norm for all government contracts on large-scale construction jobs. The order is under review and a final rule is not expected for months, but that did not stop the Labor Department from rushing to use a PLA to build its new Job Corps Center in Manchester, N.H.

The PLA executive order replaced a Bush administration order that discouraged the use of such agreements.

It was one in a series of early policy moves by Mr. Obama that has dramatically improved the unions' fortunes, though the president has not delivered on labor's top legislative priority, the so-called "card-check" bill that would make it easier to organize workplaces.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...on-job-center/

Drew1369

Screw you if you are looking for work

thats an economy fixer right there!!!

FreeNerd

Unions are not what they used to be. They have gone form protecting workers to trying to force all workers to pay dues.

The government siding with unions is a clear sign that they are no longer acting in the interests of the people, but are now companies themselves and should be made illegal.

Federal labor laws now offer you the protection that unions once did. I will go self employed before I give a union one damn dime.

Tumbleweed36

Look, everyone knows who the unions supported in this last election. What do you expect, it is called "pay back for past favors."

linderman

as if the construction unions dont have enough of an advantage over non-union companies!

but no matter how hard they try to balance the scales in the favor of unions; the non-union companies still out perform them!

wrench97

Sounds like an effort to prop up the pension fund so the government does not have to take it over, pay into a fund you will never be able to collect from because your not a member, kind of like carrying workman's comp when self employed and being able to collect.

linderman

that sounds so plausible; Kudos

yustr

Please people, do some research and think for yourselves. Glen Beck is an idiot.

Some facts: all government solicitations are open to any bidder - union or non-union. There is nothing that requires any contract to be awarded only to union contractors. Davis-Bacon rules do require that the government pay prevailing wages. The main purpose of a PLA is to coordinate the work effort among the many different contractors typically on a big project. There may be unionized electrical contractors working along side of non-union mechanical workers. There cannot be two different sets of rules governing these craftsmen. The union guys cannot be allowed to refuse to hook up a blower that was installed by the non-union guys. The PLA, if one is employed – and there is nothing that says one must be – serves to make the rules on the job consistent across the many contractors.

Relax. It’s not that big of a deal.

bry623

Nothing like dropping the Glenn Beck scare card.

Here's a few quotes from the article
Sen. Judd Gregg, New Hampshire Republican, said the scarcity of local unionized workers and a separate requirement that contractors must have completed three previous successful PLA projects to qualify to bid will essentially prevent local firms from competing for the Manchester project.

The union guy says that non union companies have a history of assembling the most inexpensive work force it can find, relying mostly on illegal immigrants - a practice, he said, that had suppressed wages and forced black workers out of the construction industry.

Of course, Manchester went for him in the 2008 primary, so spoils to the victors ne c'est pas?

yustr

Tumbleweed36

Shoot, I don't know and I am relaxed too Yustr. However, I will look it up so I can be nervous again.

FreeNerd

Wasn't there a big scandal about companies billing Davis-Bacon wages and paying out a much lower wage than billed for?

Unions are bad, their usefulness is now gone yet they remain on the backs of the American work force, and the UAW even now own the majority stake of GM.

How can a workers union own the company and protect the workers interests at the same time?

wrench97

How do you negotiate with yourself >>>>>>We want more money ........No we don't......We want a no-layoff clause..........No we don't>>>>

FreeNerd

Another great point.

If US auto assembly laborers were paid like laborers the US auto industry would be massively more competitive.

As it sits now, working the auto line can pay more than a college professor makes. Add all that extra cost into the price of your car and your no longer competitive and have no sales, with sales down you fold or are propped up by the government to prevent failure...

If the goal of a union is to over pay workers and get tax dollar bail outs to prevent members from unemployment, they succeeded in a grand scale indeed!

linderman

my biggest gripe with the unions and "un-fair" competition being; the unions are the only "recognised" body that can have a sliding pay scale on previaling rate projects.

The unions are the only ones "legally qualified" to have apprentices which can be paid 50% the rate of a journeymen. Its up to the trade union involved what the ratio is for apprentices vs journeymen.

Our non-union roofing company routinely bids against union companies and gets beat because they are able to use 50% of their manpower paid at apprentice level or 2,3,4th year payscale.

then dont forget; dollar for dollar, is the workmens comp burden, in roofing ever dollar of payroll spent gets a matching dollar to the insurance company; therefore weigh the advantage!

every swinging donkey on my payroll gets $36.85 an hour, there $11.50 benefit package now has to be paid as hourly cash into their checks; no more benefite programs we used to be able to pay that portion to. in essence every man costs us $36.85 x 2 = the insurance burden is then included

the uinion company then uses 13.00 an hour apprentices with a 4.85 benefit package, but "because" the unions are eligible to divorce a companies benefits, the union shop only pays insurance burden on the hourly rate (the $13.00) not the total of the two combined like we are forced to do!
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a union journymen roofer getting the $36.85 an hour has an insurance burden on only the $36.85

to top that off, the unions use a potion of each workers dues (usually $1.00 per hour worked) to "sweeten" the pot

when a favored union contractor corporation is chasing the "right" project that favored corporation is given as much as $250,000 from the union to make them more competitive!

I know the day is coming when they will out manuever themselves! we still out perform them, out quality them day in and day out!

Tumbleweed36

Joe,

I hear you, I hear you and believe it or not, I used to be a union carpenter for a short time in my life, however those years were gone many moons ago when things were slightly different.

I don't have much to add except this little one. When we were building the 10 million addition to the last school that I was principal of, they worked during the school year to get the project ready for the next year. The brick layers worked right outside my office for quite some time laying up a tall wall to an addition that included several new rooms and offices.

We used to laugh, because there would be days that it was cloudy and about ten or so in the morning and it would sprinkle for about three to four minutes. As soon as the first drop or sprinkle would hit, the bricklayers and hod carriers would head for their cars. If you asked where they were going, they said Home. They would leave the job site and say it is raining, we don't work in the rain. The pavement would not hardly be damp and dry in about two or three minutes due to the sun and it didn't matter if it sprinkled for two minutes or four, if there was the slightest drip, those union workers would leave and not return until the next morning. Go figure that one!

This is a true story. Didn't give me a lot of respect for them.