By Tim Shoemaker
It’s official. In order for construction companies to bid on projects that involve more than $25 million in federal funds, federal agencies are “encouraged to require” them to be union shops.
From The Daily Caller:
A ruling sent down by the White House on Tuesday finalized an Executive Order President Obama signed last year, which promotes the use of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on federal contracts. PLAs are pre-hire, collective-bargaining agreements with unions that establish terms of a large contract.
To get an idea of how the bidding process will be limited by this new ruling, over 85% of the industry is currently not unionized.
PLAs require that all contractors who want to bid pay union wages and benefits. They effectively prevent non-union shops from bidding.
“As a public works company we’re already required to pay a prevailing wage,” said Mark Compton, director of government affairs at American Infrastructure, a heavy construction company in Worcester, Pa. “It’s not an issue of us paying people less, the idea that you get away with paying employees less than federal wages is just inaccurate.”
Compton said PLAs stifle competition: “If it’s your home, would you rather have five bidding or two? I’m not here to tell you the unions aren’t qualified to do this work, we compete against them every day and sometimes they beat us and sometimes we beat them, but eliminating competition is discrimination.”
“PLAs raise costs – you’re looking at four schools for the price of five, or four bridges for the price of five,” he said.
Sadly, it’s almost laughable when people suggest we still operate under a free-market system. Throughout the last century government has been stifling innovation in various industries by restricting competition. Looks like the construction industry will be the next one we add to that list.