Secret Ballot Watch

Call it “Attack of the EFCA Clones.”

Like a flying saucer in a science fiction movie, the Employee Free Choice Act has been hovering over the Capitol for months. Thanks to bipartisan opposition, though, it hasn’t attacked the U.S. economy yet.

But measures similar to EFCA are staging economic assaults that are equally troubling.

Take federal Project Labor Agreements. Popular among EFCA backers, they were mostly banned during the Bush administration because of concerns that they drove up federal contracting costs while discriminating against potential bidders. However, President Obama has revived PLAs and they are already underway in New Hampshire, as The Washington Times reports here:

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“Mr. Obama issued an executive order in the first weeks of his presidency that would make the requirement, known as a ‘project labor agreement’ or PLA, the norm for all government contracts on large-scale construction jobs. The order is under review and a final rule is not expected for months, but that did not stop the Labor Department from rushing to use a PLA to build its new Job Corps Center in Manchester, N.H.  

“The PLA executive order replaced a Bush administration order that discouraged the use of such agreements.  

“It was one in a series of early policy moves by Mr. Obama that has dramatically improved the unions' fortunes, though the president has not delivered on labor's top legislative priority, the so-called ‘card-check’ bill that would make it easier to organize workplaces.  

“Critics say imposing the union-friendly rules on the New Hampshire job - the first federal construction contract with such stipulations since President Clinton was in office - will drive up costs, delay the project and force most of the workers to pay union dues and pension contributions for which they likely will never receive benefits.  

“North Branch Construction, a Concord, N.H.-based general contractor and member of the business group Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), filed a bid protest this week with the Government Accountability Office, claiming the PLA ‘unduly restricts competition.’  

“‘PLAs are special-interest handouts that deny taxpayers the accountability they deserve from government contracts,’ said Ken Holmes, president of North Branch Construction.”

Miller, “Obama puts union strings on federal jobs,” The Washington Times, 10.07.09

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PLAs offer just a taste of what working life will be like if the Employee Free Choice Act becomes law, and it’s just  one more reason why both proposals should fail.

 

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