Endorses Discrimination Against Union-Free Construction Workers
In Right to Work Virginia, just 4.8% of construction workers belong to a union, and just 5.7% are subject to Big Labor “exclusive” representation in the workplace. Over the past four decades, the share of Virginia hardhats who are unionized has fallen by 42%.
The primary reason for construction unionism’s long-term decline in Virginia and across the U.S. is that union-free workers and firms do a much better job at satisfying the needs and wants of commercial businesses and homebuyers.
Will Virginia Go Backwards Even as Other States Bar Discriminatory PLA Schemes?
But union-label politician Abigail Spanberger, the Democrat nominee for Virginia governor this year, is much more concerned about amassing union money and manpower for her campaign than about providing taxpayers with a decent return on the money they fork over for public construction.
To union bosses’ delight, Ms. Spanberger is calling for state government promotion of union-only “project labor agreements,” or PLAs, on Virginia public-works projects.
A few years ago, when Democrat politicians temporarily had unified control over the state government in Richmond, they repealed the ban on PLAs that had wisely been passed in 2012.
“Unfortunately, Abigail Spanberger now wants to go much further than Virginia Democrat politicians did in 2020. She is vowing to make PLAs routine for Virginia public works, all to gain the support of construction unions like the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA), which endorsed her in May,” said National Right to Work Committee Vice President John Kalb.
“Today, nearly 85% of Right to Work states, and half of all states, ban PLAs. Knowing how they discriminate against union-free workers and waste taxpayer money, politicians who aren’t totally beholden to Big Labor oppose PLAs.
“It’s notable that 21 of the 25 state bans now in effect have passed since 2011, with active support from National Right to Work leaders.”
Examples of Runaway PLA Spending Abound
“One especially glaring demonstration of how PLAs harm public finances occurred in Ohio,” Mr. Kalb continued.
“The Buckeye State’s School Facilities Commission put out for bid, with a PLA mandate, the construction of new dormitories for the state schools for the blind and deaf, located in Columbus.
“Every single bid, even the lowest one, came in millions over budget.
“So a few months later, the Commission dropped the PLA mandate and solicited new bids.
“What happened then was incredible, and also inexplicable to PLA supporters: Six times as many firms bid on the projects, and the apparent winner came in roughly 20% below the previous low bidder.”
Another compelling case occurred in Massachusetts, where courts had long struck down PLA schemes because they correctly saw them as a violation of competitive-bidding policies.
In 2024, Hampden Superior Court Judge Michael Callan blocked a PLA that the Springfield Water and Sewage Commission had tried to impose on a $325 million water-filtration project in Westfield, Mass.
The judge called out the anticompetitiveness of a deal cutting out the 82% of construction workers and contractors in the Bay State who are union-free from even submitting bids, the delays that would occur, and the increased cost of $15.5 million.
Unfortunately, late last year, the Massachusetts General Assembly, along with complicit Democrat Gov. Maura Healey, enacted a new law that now allows politicians to override the interests of taxpayers by requiring PLAs on public works with no judicial scrutiny.
“The primary reason promoting PLAs is a terrible policy for Virginia is that the 94% of the Commonwealth’s hardhats who are not currently unionized would be forced to accept monopoly union control over their terms and conditions of employment in order to take part in public-works projects,” said Mr. Kalb.
“With employees facing a loss of freedom and taxpayers facing higher construction costs, we at National Right to Work know the stakes.
“That is why the Committee, in our state Survey 2025 program, is now letting our members and supporters across the Commonwealth know what is bound to happen if Abigail Spanberger and other Big Labor Democrat politicians running for key seats in the General Assembly prevail this fall.
“We will do what we can to prevent the greedy union brass from bilking taxpayers and excluding union-free hardhats from public-works projects.”
This article was originally published in our monthly newsletter. Go here to access previous newsletter posts.
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