Under Funded Unions and PLAs

What do underfunded union pensions and Project Labor Agreements (PLAs) have to with each other?  A lot; the Obama Administration and Pelosi’s Congress chose to force construction workers to pay into union pensions to work.  That’s right, if you plan to work on the new federal construction projects you must pay into the union pension, even if you are not a member of the union.  And, now more research reveals that union pensions imperil your retirement.  Kevin Mooney of the Washington Examiner reports that half of the 20-largest unions have underfunded pensions.  Mooney quotes Diana Furchtgott-Roth who issued her own report last year that drew similar conclusions.

The report reveals that familiar union pensions are in trouble:  Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the Laborers International Union of Northern America, the International Association of Machinists, the United Brotherhood of Carpenters, the International Union of Operating Engineers, and the National Plumbers Union.  Four of these unions will dominate the PLA forced unionism contracts created by the Obama Administration.  

Mooney’s report reinforces the detrimental harm caused by forced unionism through Project Labor Agreements.  PLAs force all workers working under the PLA to risk their retirements by forcing payments into these union plans.