Pennsylvania: An Unequal Employer

by Brad Peck

Always good to keep up on the home state, a bit from The Commonwealth Foundation via thetruthaboutplas.com:

Equal opportunity has long been a cherished ideal in America. Yet state government is engaging in unequal contracting practices. Governor Rendell's administration is mandating discriminatory Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) on public construction projects across Pennsylvania.

What are PLAs? They are agreements between government and state contractors that contain stipulations beneficial to unionized labor, such as: requiring employment of unionized workers, use of union apprentice programs, and payments into union funds...While PLAs benefit unions and politicians granting them, they do so at the expense of taxpayers, contractors, and minorities:

Taxpayers - A September study by the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) reveals that PLAs increase construction costs 12 to 18%.  Additional studies on various PLAs by Ernst and Young, the Public Interest Institute, and others corroborate these increased costs for taxpayers.

Contractors - The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that only 15.6% of the construction industry is unionized, which means over 80% of construction workers are discriminated against in PLA contracts. This is no trivial matter; while PLAs are few in number, they are applied to the largest and most expensive government projects.

Minorities - It is commonly observed that union membership is lacking in minority representation. Such is the case in Philadelphia; investigative journalist Tom Ferrick Jr. reveals that only 26% of construction employees in the city are minorities. This is a severe underrepresentation, considering that 55% of the city's population is minority.

Reasons for opposing PLAs are many, and leading figures are now taking a stand...It should be noted that these critics are not attacking the concept of unionized labor itself; they are merely saying that government should not tailor contracts for organized labor to the exclusion of non-union competitors.