No Taxpayer Safe From Forced Unionism’s Stealth Power Grab

We have alerted readers to the dangers of Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) which are convoluted ways to force workers to join a union to get work — even in Right to Work states.

The American.com takes an in-depth look at PLAs “under-the-radar efforts at the local and state level to steer lucrative municipal, county, and school district construction projects to union-only shops, especially in jurisdictions where free labor predominates. These vehicles, known as project labor agreements, impose certain labor-friendly requirements on construction of public buildings. Under such strictures, even non-union workers must pay union dues, while non-union contractors have to contribute to union health and pension plans (even if they already offer their own). In addition, non-union workers must be approved by a union before being dispatched to a job, and only union apprentices can work on PLA projects.

“PLAs, says Eric Christen, executive director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction (CFEC), constitute ‘modern day Jim Crow laws that are immoral and have no place in a decent society.’ These agreements, Christen told me, ‘are about raw power being exercised by those in power who favor one group (unions) over another (everyone else).’”