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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Barack Obama Sneaks Through “Union Only” Order Shutting 8 in 10 Construction Workers Out of Federal Projects

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  September 1st, 2009 at 07:00 AM  | 

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There has not been a lot of coverage of this. It happened back in July and is only now winding its way through the federal system.

Barack Obama and his administration are about to significantly drive up the costs of federal building construction. This is an astonishing reach. The Office of Management and Budget has directed that any federal construction over $25 million benefit unions.

The order would make all federal construction projects 10-20% more expensive by requiring all contractors to either use union workers or apply inefficient union apprenticeship and work rules to their employees. Contractors would also be required to make contributions to union pension funds and other union programs that non-union workers will never benefit from.

This will hugely drive up the cost of construction of federal buildings and line the pockets of unions without even having union workers involved in the projects. The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that only 15.6% of private construction workers in America belong to unions. In other words, 8 out of 10 construction workers in America will be legally denied the right to work on federal building projects.

This is appalling.

Great news in the midst of a recession, right?

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COMMENTS

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  • http://fjrealamericans.blogspot.com/ fjrealamericans

    Getting a rumble in my intestines ….
    Though we (Conservatives) knew things this would happen.
    obama owes them.

  • http://hillbillypolitics.com Steph C

    His last full time job was lost Nov 5, 2008. After that he worked for a temp service until it couldn’t find even short term jobs, either. Then he went into a whole new career which although it pays the bills barely cut approximately $10,000/year from our income.

    Way to go, Obama! Keep it up and you will be a one term president. Charisma will not cancel out the misery index except the short term.

  • Achance

    from being required under GWB. Comrade Obama rescinded the prohibition. For those of us in the unionized states, this won’t make any difference; almost all publicly funded work, local, state or federal, is done at Davis-Bacon or higer wages and under a union Project Labor Agreement.

    What is so insiduous about these – beyond the extortionary costs – is the fact that the construction trades unions couldn’t organize one of these jobs if their lives depended on it. So, they just organize the politicians. Even without Comrade Obama’s order, here’s the way it really works: Whenever a publicly funded project or a project requiring government permitting is proposed, every left wing group opposes it. The government or the developer has to buy each and every one of them off. The Greenies either get all sorts of “abatement” money or “environmental inspector” jobs or some such, the poverty pimps get minority set-asides, this one gets that, the other one gets something else, and the unions get get a project labor agreement. Federal Davis-Bacon wage requirements and their state analogs already require simply extortionary “prevailing wages” to be paid. The PLA puts in place a union contract that any contractor bidding on the work has to be signatory to in advance of bidding.

    Understand, this scam isn’t limited to just federal projects. Anything that requires government money or government permits at any level gets stepped on this way.

  • izoneguy

    http://hotair.com/archives/2009/08/31/economist-hoovers-pro-labor-policies-created-the-depression/

    I think what Obama is doing is much, much worse. All those federal dollars come from taxpayers.

  • johnCV

    Wall St as well. It seems they have decided to tax ‘capitalist’ transactions to punish those evil profit driven corporatiosn (and private citizens too).
    http://thehill.com/homenews/house/56789-afl-cio-dems-push-new-wall-street-tax

    Could some one please explain to me WTF power a union has in levying a tax on stock transactions?!?

    But in case you thought that you could make up the difference in profits on stack trades by having a garage sale – think again. The Feds have established operation ‘Resale Roundup’ to fine/arrest those who sell items that have had a recall within the last 10 years or so.
    http://www.kansascity.com/444/story/1395184.html

    Totalitarianism. It’s whats for breakfast.

  • Andy W.

    as long as the guy holding the shovel is a union laborer.

  • http://www.scottbomb.com scottbomb

    Shocked, I tell you.

  • http://www.scottbomb.com scottbomb

    Shocked, I tell you.

  • constructionandlabor

    A little background on this issue.

    President Obama signed Executive Order 13502 on Feb. 6. It encourages federal government agencies to attach project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal construction projects over $25 million. The OMB is directing federal construction procurement officers to use PLAs on federal construction projects and the OMB and Labor Secretary Solis are about tomake recommendations to the White House to expand this order to state and local projects receiving federal funding. This will harm state and local budgets that are already in the red.

    PLAs discourage – if not eliminate – competition from non-union contractors. 85 percent of the private construction workforce in the U.S. does not belong to a union.

    By encouraging PLAs on federal projects, the Administration is orchestrating a massive windfall for labor unions by essentially guaranteeing no-bid contracts to their largest political supporters. This is a severe form of government corruption.

    This will apply to applicable projects funded by $140 billion earmarked for construction in ARRA/stimulus money.

    Unions use The Rat (remember that story about the inflatable rat ourside a NY church) to harass owners into using a PLA. They also say a PLA is a “solution” to union strikes that occasionally slow down construction projects, therefore PLAs are good public policy and are in the interest of the government and construction users. “Sign this PLA and we give up our right to strike” – sure sounds like blackmail to me.

    You can learn more about this at www.TheTruthAboutPLAs.com

    CNN did a report on this issue and that is on TheTruthAboutPLAs blog homepage. Give it a watch for an overview of this issue.

    Everyone should be outraged about this cronyism ? it should be brought up every time someone mentions EFCA and unions and government corruption.

  • 6eorge Jetson

  • 6eorge Jetson

  • Kyle-MI

    Want to bet that if the government healthcare plan passes there will be an executive order requiring all hospitals (paid for by the government plan) to be unionized. I am talking about the nurses, not necessarily the doctors.
    http://www.uannurse.org/

  • ebmindc

    What makes this even worse than during the Clinton admin is the fact that the private construction market is in freefall. The financial problems affecting the whole economy are really acute in commercial real estate. Signs point to this getting worse, much worse, before it gets better which means that federal procurements are a much larger share of construction spending in many major metro areas than they would be in a growing economy.

    They just took the few scraps left off the table and fed them to their lapdogs.

  • red4ever

    They get paid without even having to work. It’s a Union President’s dream.

  • cosmicgnome

    Wait until the big time goon takes over from Sweeney. Unions are the money supply for Democrats, unions are also legalized street mobs. The Dept, of Labor shut the office that keeps track of union boss spending, the DOL is like a communist cell already with the labor stooges including the secretary.
    Boycott union made it only supports Democrats. Nobody can consider themselves a conservative and buy union made. Those that are forced into unions to keep their job can receive help from The National Right to Work Foundation.

  • Old_Crow

    than 10-20%, at least here in the northeast. For example, ‘common laborer’ is $47.47 per hour in Hunterdon county, NJ. The costs are even higher for NYC. I would estimate using Davis Bacon doubles the labor costs for a project in the northeast, and I’m not even including mandatory vacations and other benefit costs.

    Unfortunately, the taxpayers are paying for this – without a choice or vote.

  • Achance

    section or division devoted to determining “prevailing wage” for D-B purposes and making sure public contractors are paying it. Contractors have to send in a certified payroll every pay period to be audited to make sure they’re paying the D-B rate. Of course, the prevailing wage is a total fiction; the only companies paying it are union contractors on publicly funded jobs. I could buy ‘strong back, weak mind” labor here for $12-15/hr. and no benefits all day long, at least in the summer I could. That same yard ape would cost $40 or more an hour on a road construction job. And, of course, it is all union with seniority and all that. Actually here, the high labor costs have been obviated a bit by the contractors using as little labor as possible. The unions have kinda sorta accepted that reality and have gone to a dues structure based on a percentage of the wage rather than $n/mt. That way, they can let the head count go down and keep the union’s income intact by just getting wage increases. The big public and service employee unions like SEIU and AFSCME use flat dues, so it is all about head count for them.

  • Spartan4Life

    Conservatives have to take on the unions. They are bad for America and they don’t care.

    If I hear one more Republican candidate suck up to the unions(“You know my dad was a card carrying member of the steel workers….”) I think I will puke. If we stand by conservative principles we will get our fair share of union votes.

  • http://www.ssce.net/Web-Articles/Web-articles-indexed-authors.html#authors-l JLenardDetroit

    all the other Legislation this year has been, more or less, for Dem. Money Laundering (PC excuses to $pend) and funnel funds to their cronies via “extent possible” language in the Bills. Competitive Bids are given lip service, but with the loophole they sidestep it – as this crew deems everything an EMERGENCY and somehow an EXCEPTION to any Rules/Regulations.

  • Old_Crow

    for its construction projects.
    Because, you know, they have so much ‘extra’ money laying around to spend.
    You don’t expect an organization whose union is driving it bankrupt to not support other unions would you?

    Hey it’s only “taxpayer” money, there’s plenty more where that came from.

  • shaitra

    Obama does a little bit more to screw over America. The only thing a union is good for is shutting down a business. My state just lost another company because the union wouldn’t make concessions. Now all those union jobs are going someplace else. I guess all those union workers can get jobs carrying signs and yelling “healthcare now!”

  • Trillian

    Texas is a “Right to Work” state, which means you don’t have to be a member of a union to get a job. Gov. Rick Perry isn’t going to like this.

    There are large federal building projects planned in San Antonio on several military bases which are probably over that $25 million baseline.

    Watch the sky for fireworks.

  • Andy W.

    That implies that you can get doctors and nurses to work for the government in large numbers.

    My wife the RN thinks not.

  • The_Gadfly

    And given his speech at the RedState gathering, may God have mercy on their poor souls because he won’t! And he’ll do it with a smile. I can’t wait for the chance to vote for him in a national election.

  • constructionandlabor

    Here is a link to the NY Post Story and RedState entry about the unions using an inflatable rat to attack a church’s use of non-union contractors that I referenced earlier:

    http://www.redstate.com/e_pluribus_unum/2009/08/13/unions-cannot-compete-in-free-market/

  • Pastor Frank

    in essence that will turn an additional 105 million workers into in-direct federal employees.
    Results

    He will break the back of free-market enterprise.
    He will break the back of small business, using ACORN, EFCA, SEIU, and the IRS as his weapons.
    He will break the back of the individual.
    He will break the back of family, church, community.
    He will drain all wealth from the individual, and transfer it to a central government, and re-distribute as he sees fit.
    Bottom line, you are either IN, or you are OUT.
    It is utterly transparent.

    It is indeed, Hitler 2010.

    What to Do?

    Stop getting hung up on the details (falling into the mis-direction trap)
    Bombard our leaders opposing these Bills, but for the REAL reasons, not the obtuse print within them.
    Write your newspapers and media.
    Print up a simple overview (such as something like this), and pass it out in your neighborhood.
    Stop talking about the problems (they will continue to come at us non-stop), and start thinking solutions

  • constructionandlabor

    The Government Neutrality in Contracting Act (S.90/H.R. 983), introduced Jan. 6 by Sen. David Vitter (R-LA.) and Feb. 11 by Rep. John Sullivan (R-Okla.), would prohibit federal agencies from requiring costly and discriminatory government mandated PLAs on federal and federally funded construction projects.

    This legislation essentially codifies into law President Bush’s Feb. 17, 2001 Executive Order 13202 which prohibits government mandated PLAs on federal and federally funded construction projects. The Bush Order created an environment where everyone had a fair shot and level playing field to compete for federal work, but Obama repealed the Bush Order.

    Between 2001 and 2008, Executive Order 13202 ensured that at least $147.1 billion worth of federal construction projects was bid without discriminatory and wasteful government mandated PLAs. The actual value of construction projects protected by Executive Order 13202 is exponentially larger, as the above figure does not include local construction spending from 2001 to 2008 that received federal funding or assistance protected by the executive order. A lack of government mandated PLAs created free and open competition and saved American taxpayers an estimated 12 percent to 18 percent on federal construction spending and provided women, minorities and other qualified craft professionals the opportunity to work in their communities on projects paid for by their own tax dollars.

    Unfortunately, this legislation isn’t going anywhere in the Dem./Pro-Labor controlled Congress. But when a federal PLA project pops up in your state, be sure to let your elected officials know about it.