Modern News

CNSNews did a story today giving an update on Obama’s Executive Order number 13502 requiring all federal construction projects to operate under Project Labor Agreements (PLAs). Thus far the EO has been stymied by the commission that Obama set up to handle the initiative.

A PLA is a contract agreement that would force union rules, union dues, and union control of any construction project that the federal government undertakes. The PLA rules would even descend upon any non-union labor hired for the work meaning that employees would be forced to pay dues even if they do not belong to a union.

This PLA requirement is only another Obama payoff to unions and the construction industry says that PLAs will make any federal project go over budget, take longer to complete making the projects needlessly expensive.

CNSNews reports that the commission has yet to act on the EO.

However, the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council (FAR), which is charged with final enactment of the rule, is still reviewing the matter. The FAR Council is made up of members from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of Defense, the General Services Administration and NASA.

Naturally, in keeping with this Administration, one part of the EO is built entirely on an untrue premise.

“The use of a project labor agreement may prevent these problems from developing by providing structure and stability to large-scale construction projects, thereby promoting the efficient and expeditious completion of federal construction contracts. Accordingly, it is the policy of the federal government to encourage executive agencies to consider requiring the use of project labor agreements in connection with large-scale construction projects in order to promote economy and efficiency in Federal procurement.”

Brett McMahon, vice president of the Miller & Long concrete construction firm in Bethesda, Md., has made an appearance here on the blog several times in the past and CNSNews also quotes him here. McMahon says that the EO is simply not realistic.

“They say contractors don’t have their own workforces and just hire by the job,” McMahon said. “That’s not true. Most contractors, particularly those working on projects that are $25 million, overwhelmingly currently employ their own workers.”

A PLA might put a construction firm in the position of having workers that are not part of its own workforce on a job to be eligible for a federal contract. With half of the cost of a project coming from labor, it is best for a firm to be familiar with its workers, McMahon said.

The truth is this EO is simply a payoff to Obama’s union buddies. Free federal money to line their pockets to no benefit to the country or the taxpayers.

Go on over and take a look at the CNNews story. It’s a good one.