California’s Class Warfare: PLAs Pit Union and Non-Union Workers Against Each Other
by Liberty ChickTen minutes prior to the start of a December 15th, 2009 board meeting of the Riverside Community College District in California, board members are handed a 52-page document filled with millions of dollars in projects to be funded by the district’s taxpayers, who themselves are struggling under the state’s 12.4% unemployment rate. The document, a draft Project Labor Agreement (PLA), will commit long-term construction and ancillary projects for the next several years to labor unions.
At least twenty-three members of the public, many of them local private business owners who oppose the PLA, have attended to publicly comment on the proposal. Two of the board members have never even seen the PLA prior to today, and have asked for a special session to review it. Despite opposition from the public, and the concern voiced by those two board members, the remaining three board members have moved that the Board of Trustees authorize Chancellor Greg Gray to negotiate the final PLA with the Riverside and San Bernardino Building and Construction Trade Councils. Board Trustees Virginia Blumenthal and Janet Green dissented.
So, without adequate time for all to review the draft, without any backup analysis provided to justify the use of up to $350,000,000 in Measure C taxpayer funds, without giving the public reasonable time to voice their opinions, and with an unemployment rate of over 12% when non-union workers are in even greater need of jobs than union workers…why would three of Riverside’s five board members vote to move forward with a final negotiation anyway? Why the rush? Residents and business owners in Riverside are wondering the same thing, and hope to have the chance to weigh in before the PLA’s final draft is signed.
PLAs claim to save money and promote “labor peace”. But critics have questioned such claims, citing many cases of PLA projects that experienced increased costs and labor disruptions, and admonishing their discriminatory nature. Even the Orange County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance to ban PLAs last November to safeguard against such issues and to ensure fair competition.
I wonder if on-the-job behavior like this also had anything to do with such a decision:
Meanwhile, California continues to spend billions on PLA projects while non-union workers suffer through record unemployment and taxpayers are hit with higher taxes, added fees and service cuts at every turn.
PLA History: The New Deal Was Then, Greenmail is Now
Project Labor Agreements aren’t exactly new. Also referred to as Government Mandated Labor Agreements (GMLAs), they have been around since the New Deal in the 1930’s, during the National Recovery Act and Works Progress Administration under Franklin D. Roosevelt. They cover all the workers of a project under a single agreement and almost always require that labor is hired through a union hall. While some non-union workers may be hired, they are typically covered under the one of the PLA’s umbrella unions – they might not be required to become a union member, but will pay union dues and a portion of their wages will be withheld and contributed to the pension fund of that union.
The first official use of a public project labor agreement in California was in 1938 with the construction of the Shasta Dam, part of the famed Central Valley Project (which ironically is more recently associated with the controversy over the water ban over the delta smelt fish). The California Legislature authorized the Central Valley Project as a state project in 1933, planning to finance it with up to $170 million in revenue bonds. But when California was still unable to finance the project even in its first two years, the state eventually created the Water Project Authority to justify the project as a “national benefit”, to which President Roosevelt then granted millions in executive allocation funds. A series of court battles followed and the Supreme Court placed its responsibility square in the hands of Congress, and it soon became a political football. As the first of their kind, other Central Valley projects served as the proverbial carrot on a stick to big labor, making the PLA the sought after win.
Since those days, federal and state laws have been passed over time to improve conditions for workers in America, leading to the creation of federal agencies like the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Labor (DOL) and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to name only a few. While labor unions once represented a large portion of workers in America prior to the existence of such laws and agencies, workers now have proper outlets and interest in voluntary union membership has declined. As such, labor unions are turning again to PLAs as a tool in helping them to survive.
While PLAs were once largely embraced in a marketplace when unions represented a greater majority of workers in the US, today’s PLAs must claim other benefits to be reasonably received by a general public that is no longer largely unionized. Today’s PLAs purport to extend jobs to non-union workers, when in reality they place new impositions on both employers and workers, such as mandatory union-hall hiring, forcing non-union workers to pay union dues and make contributions to others’ pension funds. With the advent of the strict standards of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), PLAs now typically promise union sanctioned “environmental expertise”, adding another weapon to big labor’s arsenal. Since most unions receive public funding for environmental training and mitigation, union bosses use it to assert their perceived authority by challenging projects on environmental grounds. They effectively hold a project hostage until the parties agree to a PLA and allow union shops to take control of the project’s labor requirements. It’s nothing less than blackmail, which is how a new spin on the old term “greenmail” came to be mainstream, as effectively illustrated in the video below.
California Underwater: Despite Financial Crisis, Unions Thrive Under PLA Spending While Non-Union Workers Remain Unemployed
Lately it’s as though progressives are trying to relive the New Deal days, allowing politics, not need, to drive who gets jobs, money, resources and contracts. The influence of politics on governmental decisions and policies is certainly having its impact on how many opportunities are created for the majority of Americans, versus for just a very small subset that are the union workers.
In February 2009, as one of his first duties in office, President Obama signed an executive order that authorized federal executive agencies to use project labor agreements on federal construction contracts with a total cost of $25 million or more. The order also revoked President Bush’s prior ban on mandatory PLAs, an action he’d taken after congressional hearings produced evidence that PLAs were discriminatory against open-shops and non-union workers, increased costs on most projects and were too often vehicles for abuse . When the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was passed only days after Obama’s order, agencies were encouraged to mandate PLAs for all stimulus projects.
Recently, skepticism of PLAs has increased under closer scrutiny of stimulus project awards, and more business journalists have been examining current unemployment numbers, looking at who’s getting jobs from stimulus projects, and at the relation of such issues to unionization statistics, as well as reporting on potential abuses.
California is a prime example of such governing policies that reckon back to the 1930’s, but in a day when the current level of union membership no longer justifies the pro-union policy. Backed by the State Building and Construction Trades Council (an arm of AFL-CIO), the state is awash in cost-prohibitive union PLAs right now, even in light of its dismal financial situation. It almost defies logic.
Other PLA spending in California includes:
- The Long Beach Airport Terminal Improvement Project is moving forward with its $35 million PLA, despite its projected $11 million budget deficit, a gasoline tax, parking fee increases, spending cuts and the closure of several fire stations.
- The Northern California Power Agency project’s $432 million PLA will deliver $60 million for labor unions alone
- Under Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, a former union organizer himself, Los Angeles has undertaken numerous PLA projects, including the Mass Transit Authority, which has already increased fares and taxes on residents, as it takes on the added cost that a PLA will bring to the project.
- View a complete list of over 400 PLAs implemented in California between 2000 and April 2009
The state faces a $20 billion budget deficit, it issued I.O.U.s in taxpayers’ refunds, and recently Standard & Poor’s lowered its credit rating, following downgrades already made by Moody’s Investors and by Fitch Ratings.
California taxpayers have also been dealt a series of other costs, such as an extra 10% taken from their paycheck withholding, a 5% surcharge on state income taxes, an increased sales tax, and increases in ancillary fees such as vehicle licensing fees. While they struggle with these cost increases, taxpayers will also foot the bill for the increased costs of PLAs. Meanwhile, they struggle with one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.
According to a 2009 report published by the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment, UCLA, California accounts for about 17% of all of the United States’ union members, more than any other state.
In California, where 18.3% of the overall workforce is covered by a union, much of the recovery opportunities, including PLAs, are focused disproportionately on creating union jobs. Where does that leave the other 81.7% of non-union workers who are fighting California’s 12.4% unemployment rate? In construction, California’s union rate is higher than average 23.1%, which makes it even more difficult for private construction to compete. Despite popular belief that the construction industry is overwhelmingly unionized, only about 16% of America’s construction workers belonged to a union in 2009. That’s a lot of workers left out of the competition when they need the work most.
The project labor agreements show no signs of slowing down, yet very few jobs for non-union workers, especially those in the private sector, can be found in the pipeline. Private sector jobs in California had already been in severe decline over the last decade. Public sector labor agreements, construction project labor agreements, and most recently stimulus programs have crowded out the private workforce. For construction contractors, it’s especially difficult if you own your own business or are a non-union worker. Private contractors also do not have the progressive grassroots organizing network of support that labor unions enjoy – they don’t have hundreds of door-to-door campaigners to support their bid on a project, or to show up at board meetings and town halls on their behalf. The private sector isn’t only competing with its own government for those jobs, but with the entire progressive machine.
With such a small percentage of unionized workers vs. non-union, it’s rather apparent these impositions are in place not for the workers’ benefit, but for the unions’.
Proponents of PLAs will tout a long-standing history of the success of PLAs, often citing projects like the San Francisco International Airport. They refer to benefits such as prevailing wage standards, worker protections, jobs for local residents, and the assurance of labor peace during construction projects; they also always promise reductions in cost. Yet, much of this is anecdotal information and there is little documentation in the way of hard metrics to support such claims. Instead, PLAs have become a political campaign tool. President Obama, in signing the executive order earlier this year to reinstate PLAs, stated the following at a Building Trades Legislative Conference in April 2008:
“We need to make sure the government uses project labor agreements to encourage completion of projects on time and on budget. One of the first things George Bush did when he got into office was to ban PLAs. That’s bad for workers and bad for America, and that’s why one of the first things I’ll do as President will be to repeal that ban and put PLAs back into place…We need to invest American resources in rebuilding our nation’s highways, roads and bridges, which will produce thousands of job opportunities for building trades workers.”
(I guess President Obama isn’t familiar with projects like the infamous Boston “Big Dig”).
Yet, a review by Beacon Hill Institute of federal construction projects during the Bush Administration found no instances of labor disputes that resulted in significant project delays or increased costs.
“Our examination of the record produces no evidence of any systematic connection between the absence of a PLA, on the one hand, and cost overruns or delays caused by labor disputes, on the other,” said David G. Tuerck, one of the authors of the study and Executive Director of the Beacon Hill Institute. Therefore, the justifications offered by the Obama Administration for reinstating PLAs are not supported by the evidence.
There are additional studies that also refute the myths of PLA benefits.
- This video provides a very thorough overview of PLAs and examples of how PLAs discriminate against open-shop contractors and minorities. Additional helpful videos can be found here and here.
- The Project Labor Agreement for the Iowa Events Center: An Unnecessary Burden on the Workers, Businesses, and Taxpayers of Iowa; 2006, Public Interest Institute: “Despite the implementation of a Project Labor Agreement, the Iowa Events Center project went over its projected budget, was not completed on time, and raised concerns about safety issues.”
- Project Labor Agreements: The New Bid Rigging and Protection Racket; 2001, Public Service Research Foundation
- Government-Mandated Project Labor Agreements in Construction, the Institutional Facts and Issues and the Key Litigation: Moving Toward Union Monopoly on Federal and State Financed Projects; 2000, Dr. Herbert R. Northrup, Professor Emeritus of Management, The Wharton School
- Project Labor Agreements and the Cost of Public School Construction in Connecticut; 2004, Bachman, Haughton, Tuerck; Beacon Hill Institute
- Project Labor Agreements and the Public Construction Costs in New York State; 2006, Bachman, Tuerck; Beacon Hill Institute
- A list of at least twenty other studies can be found at OpenContracting.com
And before any of our readers start ranting that being against PLAs means being against minorities, check your stats. While blacks and Hispanics represent 23% of the general population, only an average of 8% of construction union members are minorities. Labor leaders and progressive groups will often insist that PLAs ensure that minority workers have fair access to construction work, yet this is simply untrue. Open competition however will ensure fair access. And it is actually the non-union associations and conservative think tanks that have been working tirelessly to change this. The CATO Institute published a paper by David Bernstein in 1993 titled The Davis-Bacon Act: Let’s Bring Jim Crow to an End, which details the history of how the 1931 prevailing wages law has intentionally excluded minorities from the construction industry and why it should be repealed. Popular belief has also often been that unions are largely dominated by members with little or no secondary education, when in fact in California specifically, the majority have a college degree or some college. While many of those are in public administration and education, the majorities also include those in transportation and construction.
Free-market advocacy groups have fought for decades for the law’s complete repeal in the name of anti-discrimination and fair competition. It might surprise many to know that the only time Davis-Bacon was repealed , on a temporary basis – was by President George W. Bush – during the buildup that followed Hurricane Katrina (yes, I know…Kanye West would be shocked!). Amazingly, it was labor leaders who protested the loudest against that move.
Why? Because it opened up the playing field to both union and non-union bidders, which is something that unions like the AFL-CIO just cannot have. And with their heels so firmly dug into California, most don’t expect labor leaders to welcome fair competition there either, especially not while they are enjoying their renaissance of the New Deal days again.
That’s why you, the everyday average citizen and local business owners, in California and elsewhere, need to pay attention to what’s on your town’s voting schedule. You’re the only ones who can affect real change by speaking up.
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83 Comments
Organized Labor is synonomous with organized crime. This article read like a chapter right out of the Sopranos.
Excellent work Liberty Chick!
Ya gotta keep it in the "union" family……if you are not union you dont have a job…..geesh
People of the right mind will be ok….the rest of us will suffer under theese goons.
It would be nice if all Californians would learn to read and place more value on their vote than what do I get out of it right now. As long as large blocks of people allow politicians who bring home the PORK to tell you what to do, this is what you get.
Look at elected officials vote records and vote out those who are giving away you and your childrens future. This applies to all levels ov government.
Cowboy's right. Andrew Stern…the new Al Capone!
California is a right to work state. Private companies should be able to compete for contracts without discrimination. I think there needs to be some class action lawsuits.
California and Michigan need right-to-work laws in the worst way. Not to mention politicians who aren't in cloud cuckoo land spending imaginary money those states don't have. "Broke" is a monosyllabic word, and yet there's evidently some part of it Democrats don't understand.
We need a citizens Union to protect us and our country from abuses brought on by the labor unions.
How can we organize such a thing?
WoW.
Now there is a thought worth expounding upon! If we caint beat 'em, we might as well join 'em! Free stuff for all for less work product. I love it.
Harry, since it was your idea, do you want to be President of it, for life? Get yourself a limo, a Gulfstream, an expense account and a telepromptor. You can go from town to town, organizing.
I'll get a few guys from here, and we will be your muscle, your advance tem. We'll go in a few days ahead of you, and "soften" up the opposition……….
When did unions really go wrong? There was a time when they were absolutely vital to workers, in a time when management paid terrible wages, terrible benefits, and in terrible conditions. Then organized labor came about and instigated real positive change.
Then something horrible happened, and they began to take far more than what was fair. Now they're spreading like cancer, and are unnecessary in the modern workplace.
They went wrong when the union bosses realized that they could pocket ALL of the money paid by dues, and found a way, (in their eyes!) to do it legally!! They need to be taken down NOW!!!
I am only half joking.
Bottom line is, that if men are free to form a union, then men should also be free to reject the union.
And likewise the employer should be free to hire those that will allow them to make the most profit.
In all cases we need to seek to protect free trade. Crony capitalism and worker abuse is not free trade, however what the unions are doing to us and our children today is not either.
What is to be done citizen?
has anyone figure out that union "wages" have been the major contributing factor to so many companies sending their work overseas? for instance airlines contracting their maintenance overseas? manufacturing has gone overseas. everything is going overseas because of the ridiculous union wages… even GM, recipient of much taxpayer largess, is increasing its overseas production from 7% to 23%. consider the little SEIU "episode" in Allentown last year where the head of the local chapter was going to sue the town because they allowed a local Boy Scout to clean up a walking path so he could earn a merit badge. the SEIU local felt the town should have PAID the SEIU members who were then out of work rather than letting a boy scout earn a merit badge. this is beyond ridiculous. And then we get to hear them whine. They refuse to acknowledge that they are in any way responsible. Repeal Davis-Beacon.
Power corrupts.
" So, without adequate time for all to review the draft, without any backup analysis provided to justify the use of up to $350,000,000 in Measure C taxpayer funds, without giving the public reasonable time to voice their opinions, and with an unemployment rate of over 12% when non-union workers are in even greater need of jobs than union workers…why would three of Riverside’s five board members vote to move forward with a final negotiation anyway? Why the rush? "
Sometimes the answer is just too easy – THEY'RE PROGRESSIVES
It's called "The Tea Party"
Everyone who pays attention has figured this out. What has not is that the public has not yet figured out that it is in their power to change this.
It is, and they will.
I'll throw in the domain AmericanCitizens.org and were off. As long as I get a teleprompter and one of those jets:) Actually a citizens union really sounds like a great idea.
Seriously, I was only half joking also.
I believe in free men. Freedom to choose. For my adult life, I have been anti-union, and pro capitalism. I have fought against organized labor, with the same passion they have fought against me. It has been bloody at times.
About twenty years ago, I was working a non-union shop, and working right at a hundred men. I had two foremen come to me, with a Union rep, who told me they were going to organize a union, and put it to a vote. I called my employees in, and told them, for a fact that if they voted union, I'd shut it down.
It took them three years to get the vote. They did it, by bringing in union hands, and getting on my payroll, as people retired, or moved on. I woke up one day, and my old, respected, trusted and valued employees were gone, outnumbered by new blood. They ultimately got their vote for a union.
I shut it down, just as I told them I would, three years earlier. I will not be dictated to, by a ceegar smokin', whiskey swillin' thug.
This is what Andy Stern and Obama want to bring to all of America!
Aside from the environmentalist, the unions are the root problem for California. I say let them go bankrupt. Let the courts sort out those usurious labor pension contracts. Let the courts bust up the unions and let common sense prevail,,,,,,,,,,,,never mind,,,,,I forgot that they would be California Judges,,,,,,,,,,the ninth circus court!!!!!!
Great article Liberty Chick!
This dovetails nicely with Barry’s 1.6 trillion deficit in his latest “budget.” What’s the big whoop, just print more money…right? Liberal economics are cool!
I am sorry but although your article is well researched and well written, most people are kept busy enough trying to make a living and raising their families to even be aware of subjects like this.
I am not trying to be cynical but realistic. The union thugs have paid activists that show up at these meetings but most people have jobs and families and are hard pressed to make an appearance.
Glad you mentioned the Davis Bacon Act this time. Good article.
"I shut it down, just as I told them I would, three years earlier."
I like a man of his word.
Ahh, don't forget Henry Ford….he paid his workers very well, actually an unheard of hourly wage, gave them bennies all before Ford Motor Company was "Unionized". He fought the union for years and never understood why his employees voted the union in.
the increases in government payroll will put people in place to provide cover for their union brethren. this state is a microcosm of what the country is destined to become, unless !!!!!
Point taken, but Big Union is highly organized and funded. I'm not sure the tea party really has what is needed here.
Gary, guys like us, that is what is important for us now. To pass on values to our children and grandchildren. They are our only hope. There are two lost generations in this country, and to further expound upon that, the generational welfare recepients are lost to a productive society. I see no easy answer.
You got that right!
I can just see Tony Soprano and Johnny Saks cutting up the profits from the "Esplanade" project.
[...] No wonder companies want to get the hell out of union heavy areas. Green is the new Red, comrade! California’s Class Warfare: PLAs Pit Union and Non-Union Workers Against Each Other – Big Gov… __________________ XD9 Service Black, XD9 Subcompact x 2 Kimber Tactical Custom II, [...]
Cowboy, that is exactly why I built the Treasury of Heritage. A place where we can archive and share the wisdom of our fathers, and mothers so that it will be available to our grandchildren and great grandchildren. A repository of wisdom and values. Google it up treasuryofheritage.com
OKay coming from Michigan the epitome of the result of the Democratic / Union marriage I must warn my brother conservatives to not be taken in by the Democrat’s class warfare. Here is a formula to success on this issue Union bosses BAD, Union members GOOD. Most members of unions are proud Americans distrusting of authority, (looks around sees that in that respect they are in good company). They pay dues often times exceeding the value of what collective bargaining has brought them but they have no choice they are locked in if they want to work. They are told that their jobs are going overseas to people that are willing to work for 2 dollars a day and they feel powerless to stop it (don’t you). Throw them a lifeline and like the Reagan democrats before they will come on board. Free Trade for them has become synonymous with shuttered factories. NeoCon, new world order, economic theory is as tainted, tired and destructive as welfare. The magic bullet was going to be the information age. We would lead and the rest of the world would buy information from us, WHY? (Contiued)
They have engineers architects computers high-speed internet cellular phones and a technical labor pool. Our sense of Nationalism was used to make us believe we were innately better equipped to compete. Now we are suffering from that mirage. We can win the day and hold our colors high by once again becoming the manufacturing powerhouse we once were. We need to take advantage of our transportation infrastructure our enormous resources and the reduced cost of shipping good domestically. We also need to promote domestic sources of energy, ore, and timber. This will require of stripping back the EPA and environmental regulations to the very basics of the clean air and clean water acts. Privately built nuclear power plants should be built at every military base licensed by executive order. Hydroelectric dams need to be built and the water diverted from the oceans used for enhancing growth in industrial, agricultural and residential sectors. American labor is pricey but all that money goes back in the domestic economy Domestic resources likewise generate domestic funds. We need to stop the bleeding our cash for resources we are sitting on. It is like borrowing at 30% while sitting on savings account making 1%
Yes my firend. I remember, and I owe you an apology there. You and I met here, and I committed to you that I would start writing, and get involved with your project. I did not forget. I just got a tad obsesed here, and I have enjoyed it immensely.
With that being said, my time is growing short here, and I won't be around here anymore. At that time, I'll re-explore your project with you. I want to start with documenting stories from the Rez, and from World War II vets. I know some folks, whose stories will make you cry.
You have my email address.
It's tough when they fight dirty with dirty politicians.
Union bosses take their power from the members, you cannot excuse them.
cowboy….here is some real organized crime,"27th Amendment ". missed that one did you not.
Not fair Harry. Obama gets his power from us doesnt make it okay with me.
You are speaking at the individual level and you are correct, however we the people have elected Obama and we are therefore responsible for his being in power.
Similarly we can and should expect Union membership to be responsible for the leadership they elect and support; and to remove from power those leaders who do not work to the good of the membership.
I do not say that these men are bad, but they they are part of an organization that is bad, and that they need to change that, and I say the same of our country and our representatives.
Amen mipain.
I once worked as a union-represented employee in California. It was absolute tyranny!
One day, a union steward threatened me — on company time and premises — with physical violence if I crossed the picket line during what was expected to be a strike in the near future. I turned him in to management. After a slap on the wrist, he remained in his position without any sanction whatsoever!
The same guy eventually requested his FOURTH drug abuse rehab at company expense. The company refused (their limit was three), so he quit and moved to Puerto Rico. He then sued the company, claiming that since he was a drug addict, he wasn't responsible for his decision to quit. He claimed that the company shouldn't have accepted his resignation. He WON his case and got his job back!
We had another woman in our office that had only worked 3 months in the previous 2 years. She was constantly out on medical leave. She would come back for a week or two, and then leave on a new medical leave; sometimes, she would be gone 6 months to a year. Each time, she would sue for benefits and the company would eventually give in to her. She was also a union thug — I mean steward.
Unions in CA are nothing but thuggery! No society can prosper long-term when such thuggery is permitted. California is doomed!
Liberty Chick Rocks. Nice work!
Without unions the "free markets" are free to set wages at levels that will ensure the destruction of our middle class. We must at least have the threat of collective bargaining to keep corporations honest.
CA is making the Titanic look like the Queen Mary. Good riddens.
"Labor Peace." I guess if they say it IT must be true.
Thank "Law Enforcement" for enabling this, if you wish. Without their nightsticks, Tasers, and guns, how long do you think this would last?
like politics, unions have gone astray. middle class working people need protection from corporate leaders and others that would turn a factory into a sweat shop. i have fought for and against unions and indeed unions DO have a place. look at what wally world has done to AMERICA….run 1,000 of manufacturing plants to china, vietnam. mexico(so why are there still illegals). do you think those overseas plants take care of their employees? …….politicians and unions are necessary evils.
Read the first 58 pages of this little (red) book: http://www.archive.org/stream/industrialpublic00f...
The Industrial Public: A Plan of Social Reconstruction In Line with Evolution
It is an original ? (1921) Progressive Manifesto and you can see how Progressives feel about Unions. They would like children raised by the state- no one to own private property and life organized into a "Productive Union", A "Commercial Union" and eventually a "Universal Union".
Once you have read this, you can understand why the "Modern Progressives" are doing what they are doing: getting all labor into Labor Unions, infiltrating the schools, taking farm land and water rights away from people, setting up unionized medicine etc. They are setting up The Collective.
I am a union member because I have no choice. (Railroad Conductor) I haven't worked in over a year and neither have about 500 "brothers" of mine here in Southern California alone. The unions are corrupt from the top down in my book, Oh yea, I been thrown under the bus a few times by the union when they didn't want to do their job. There's no "family" in the union's for the most part, just the leaders and the politicians in their pockets, the rest of us may be thrown to the wolves at any time. Some guys are pro union because they got enough seniority to keep working and they are living the good life, they don't want to see that end.
well as you guys are fighting the "free markets" all of our labor is being outsourced to India, China, Mexico and beyond. Who will protect you from having a job when all of our major manufacturers leave the country?
Is there a principled conservative seismologist out there? Can you tell the rest of us at the next secret meeting the date CA is due to fall into the Pacific? You know, so our CA secret society members can get out in time.
http://libertyatstake.blogspot.com/
JMA, unions went wrong in several different ways at different times. The New Deal National Labor Relations Act put the heavy thumb of government on the unions' side of the scale and destroyed the need for them to consider agreements that were equitable to both sides. In 1955 when the American Federation of Labor merged with the Congress of Industrial Organizations, the more traditional trade unions seemed satisfied to let the more liberal industrial unions have the politics. That led the union political machine down the path to collectivism and it has never recovered. There is, of course, a great deal more to it than this, but these are starting points for the move in the wrong direction.
We need to work to have fair markets. Americans compete very well on a level playing field because of our productivity which continues to grow even when wages become stagnant. We need to insist that we have reciprocal access to foreign markets and that foreign governments are not subsidizing products they export. And U.S. companies who move manufacturing facilities overseas should not be able to export them to this country without a penalty.
Gary,
I'm a rather simple person. Some have even called me a simpleton. My mind is organized, and laid out in right angles. I see things clearly. I think in terms of black and white (pardon the pun),right and wrong, good and bad. Yes should always mean yes, and no should always mean no. There are no grey areas, and one should always call a spade a spade. Do what you say, and don't back up.
Right on the mark.
I am trying to teach my grandkids the same thing….what a job..
So the new deal deal with organised labor stopped the rioting in the 1930's.What has that got to do with labor in 2010?
It's funny how things just don't change….these thugs are going to have their day in the hospital or the morgue before to long…Do they think they will still be able to bully people around when unemployment is 30-35%??Or when the federal bailouts/job creation scams have ran out?
I'll take it a step further.Close all 1000 military bases around the world,and all the state departments foreign embassies and bring everyone home.Stop all foreign aid and nationalise all foreign business in the US.This includes business' that operate here but keep their offices in another country for tax reasons.Close our borders and make the USA selfsufficient.Let's give the rest of the world a real reason to hate us.Then in ten to twenty years consider helping others.Unfortunately, it will take a dictator to do something like this…I predict the US will break up way before anything logical is done on a national level anyway.
Unfortunately, the example of City of LA can guide us as to what will happen: those in power will realize that BK (bankruptcy) removes most of THEIR power, too! So, they concoct increasingly elaborate workarounds, and clever shell-games to trick their way into furthering their term in power.
This usually continues until something done is so utterly illegal and obvious, or the enemies they make are so hideous, that the politicos are voted out of office, removed from office, or some even think (e.g. Chicago mayor Cermak, often called "the father of machine politics", in Feb. 1933) politicians have been assassinated.
Also, you are wise to point out which Circuit Court might be involved in such a hearing. Thus, we see that electing the right representatives and leaders may yet be the way out of this nightmare.
Who do you think first began the "union" in the first place, but the mob? It's been running in America longer than most Americans think, too.
Actually, Victor, it was the American Socialists that pushed and started Trade Unions. The Mob didn't get involved in them until the 1950's. This was due to the large amount of money available (pensions, strike funds, etc) and the fact that they dominated industries they were interested in. This was predominately trucking, construction and the "ports" (blackmarket transport and clearance of tax-free goods).
"Organized Crime" has never "run" this country (on a local level, maybe), they are too diorganized for that.
I remember the old days when they wouldn't let in the "mollies" "spics" and "micks". That is the main way you can tell the "mob" doesn't run the unions anymore.
(by the way….. that is their terms, not mine. I am, afterall, one of those "micks")
Sorry, RT, Stern has nothing on Capone. Capone was a tried and true Capitalist.
Mikatollah,
Right and wrong. When advancement and increase of salary are dependent on productivity, it is up. If you compare union shops to non-union (Big Three Auto vs. Toyota/Honda, etc) union shops fall short every time. Labor costs, per unit, are higher, mostly due to lost productivity. The non-union auto shops are not unsafe, far from it, they are usually actually safer, yet lines are faster and more units come off than in the "Big Three". This is the main reason why we are not competative.
While there are some markets that are "protective" most are not. We still are unable to compete. The answer is not protection, it is becoming more "efficient".
Fair enough Harry. For the record I am Not a union guy and never was a union guy I am not suggesting that they have no responsibility and was only trying to demonstrate a simplistic good/bad argument to allow dialogue to begin.
DWH I am not an expert on foreign policy I am not sure what the geo political fallout would be. However I am convinced for good or bad Isolationist tendency are on the rise. I do expect us to take a smaller part on the world stage this seems to be cyclical though we go home lick are wounds and go back at it. I am sure the founding fathers would be appaled by the depth of our foreign entanglements. They would even be more alarmed by the lack of a cohesive strategy.
I know that any additional comments about the (now) uselessness of Unions would be preaching to the choir here. They served an important role back during the Industrial Revolution, but now just bog things down.
What IS worth noting is that by the liberal elite, California is seen as one of the bastions of enlightened thinking and communal efforts. Despite being one of their ivory-progressive-meccas, California is going to be broke before the year is half way through.
It never ceases to amaze me that so many 'smart' people are unable to connect the broad, overreaching social programs and system of irrational union-reward, with their ceaselessly evaporating coffers.
California is a state RICH with resources (both physical and intellectual) there is NO REASON for such a well-endowed state to be so broke, and so broke all the time.
Being a union mechanical contractor, I know first hand that you Liberty Chick are wrong on many things. You are assuming many things that may be advantageous for union contractors but a non-union contractor can also get the work. There isn't much difference between the union and non-union contractors. They both must pay the prevailing wage for that area. The fact is that nationwide only about 10 percent of construction workers are union. Who else is going to do the work? During rebuilding after Katrina, GW suspended the Davis-Bacon act and New Orleans was flooded with illegal Mexicans working for $5 an hour. He had to reinstate it to stop the flood. In addition union construction trade workers far and away out class, out work, and are better educated and more safe than their non-union counterparts. Many surveys have been done and the majority of Americans prefer union tradesmen over the non-union.
Many of you are just like the kool-aid drinkers on the left. Uninformed and ignorant but take whatever people like Liberty Chick writes as gospel.
…and it applies to every legislative district across the country!
I think Capone was more of an opportunist. Wasn't he really seeking to create a monopoly?
He did, sorta, want to create a monopoly, the sign of a TRUE Capitalist.
Nice concepts, but meeting the reality test makes it fail. We need a clean environment, which equates to clean water, food and reduce health care cost for sick workers and citizens.
The U.S.of A. needs to take the next steps in industrialization but developing and using recycling technologies. We can reuse what we use. We can create energy platforms for home usage and much more. Independency was the battle cry of our founders; we can achieve more if we focus resources towards the citizenry than commercial groups – or worst political groups i.e. democrats and republicans.
I am fighting the PLA in Riverside, Long Beach and the Metropolitan Transit Authority. Anyone who is local and would like to speak up in opposition to these publicly (at hearings etc) I would appreciate the backup. Call Associated Builders and Contractors Southern California Chapter.
[...] With California on the brink of bankruptcy, you would think that elected officials would be looking to save taxpayers money rather than paying more than they have to for the cost of construction. You would be wrong. [...]
[...] a disadvantage, and cost taxpayers millions more in construction costs in their article, ”PLAs Pit Union and Non-Union Workers Against Each Other“: In February 2009, as one of his first duties in office, President Obama signed an executive [...]
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Free marketeers point to unions as violators of the free market concept, but organized labor operates under the same pretexts corporations and merged companies do. They take their commodity, "labor," and agglomerate to control as much of the labor market as they can before selling it.
At the retail end, unions sell themselves to workers as guarantors of higher wages and benefits. I doubt Mr. Breitbart's business model includes the benefits of a Newspaper Guild contract, so you wouldn't know how nice that feels.
Unions ares are not empty shells. They are made up of individual persons, "the people," such as we refer to them in political discourse. They are the very same people who react with fear and insecurity when somebody comes in and threatens to undermine their lifestyle and family security, as in the video you posted, again, without context.
You know, corporate America have been pretty good at meting out beatings and death to labor activists.
Balance my dear. Balance.
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Your analysis of the California water projects is interesting history, just not very effective in linking the costs you cited to the union presence. The price-tag on those projects includes materials, finance charges and items unrelated to wages, which were hardly at a premium on Depression-era works projects.
Few writers actually read PLAs. These vary from job-to-job and often waive union pay-rates for the good of project. They rarely lock-out nonunion employees, rather require that nonunion contractors pay union rates, which tend to be higher.
Another common meme is to compare the higher sticker price for union-projects versus nonunion, when analyzing the "final" cost of a project, usually leans a PLA's way.
It was truly and "organized labor" to get through your ameoba of a piece, which lacks head or tail, while being long on spine.
Bracketing "labor peace" with quotation marks is certainly not enough to debunk the argument. Most PLAs contain "no-strike" clauses which are very useful to contractors. Sometimes disruptions occur and that's why you have the PLA contract, which puts the matter before an arbitrator or a court of law.
A stoppage, in an of itself, doesn't disqualify a PLA. It must be analyzed within the context of what provoked it, and the final resolution.
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Please read the below piece from the bottom up. I thought the reverse posting would put them in the right order.
[...] The law firm McCuneWright, LLP filed multiple class action lawsuits against eight national home builders on behalf of homeowners seeking the return of their investment from the builders. Those named in the suit happened to be some of the very companies that Change to Win unions – including LiUNA, SEIU, and the Teamsters – have been campaigning against for hiring non-union workers and resisting Project Labor Agreements. [...]
Where did all of the workers go that had the guts to stand up against the business bosses that constantly berate workers' rights and the Union movement. First we have had the business bought Republican Party forcing throught the (Fat) Taft-Hartley Act in 1947, which stripped workers of there rights under the Wagner Act passed in 1935. It only took them 12 years to stab every worker in the back.
Look what business interests and their paid for politicians to do to America, Allowed companies to use hired attorneys to road block every worker and Union attempt to get contracts with companies. They drag out every attempt by workers to make gains, by using the National Labor Relations Board as a company contractor. Decision after decision that makes it difficult for workers to get a Union and a contract.
Yep; keep arguing for less Unions and more business control. They will take care of you.
It amazes me that the all of you degrading Unions believe that everyone will swallow your B.S.
We need more Unions in the work places of America. We need decent wages in every shop, store, manufacturing plant and service company. The only way that America's capitalist economy works is with the Union movement that makes sure that everyone benefits.
Capitalism works for Capitalist and Unionism works for the rest of us.
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