-By Warner Todd Huston
One of the first things that President Obama did when he walked into the White House was to authorize an Executive Order as a payback to his buddies in Big Labor by implementing project labor agreements (PLAs) for all federal construction projects. That this was his very first action upon taking office shows that he is definitely the president that unions bought and paid for.
A PLA is a set of rules that forces every contractor that works for the federal government to pay union wages, pay union dues, pay into union pensions and operate under union rules even if the company is not a unionized company. PLAs end competitive bidding and cost the government more on every project. These rules are nothing but a freebie, a sop to Obama’s Big Labor pals at the expense of taxpayers and lost jobs.
As the Wall Street Journal says, “PLAs are a form of political bid-rigging that robs taxpayers even in good economic times. Amid today’s limited fiscal resources, PLAs steal money from the likes of education and law enforcement to reward politically connected companies and their unions. They deserve to be outlawed.”
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States Taking Pro-Jobs Rules Into Their Own Hands”
Barack Obama’s interference in the business operations of Boeing new Dreamliner manufacturing project will likely cause thousands of workers in South Carolina to lose their jobs. Because of this, one Palmetto State worker is suing the federal government for its part in his probable future job loss.
On Monday I alerted you all to a jobs-killing, union-favoring amendment being considered in the House of Representatives in Washington, one that needed to be defeated. Unfortunately, the amendment was successful and now, in this dour economy, unions will be able to make matters worse just when we need a shot in the arm. (See
Barack Obama’s Executive Order that requires federal contractors to disclose the political contributions they have made is garnering bi-partisan opposition on the Hill this month.
You may remember last year, when union-backed Democrats nearly passed the so-called DISCLOSE Act, imposing financial disclosure for companies, while excluding unions.
Everyone loves Girl Scout cookies, right? What could be more American? It’s a right of passage for many young girls to set up a folding table in front of a local business and sell their little cookies and what American doesn’t get a warm feeling in their heart when they see those peppy little ones chirping out, “would you like to buy some cookies?” Who could be against that? Who would want to set up a situation where Girl Scouts would be turned away from their traditional cookie-selling outposts?
The government is over spent. This single fact is beyond dispute. Even Democrats say so. We have but to recall that Democrat after Democrat attempted to run for office this last election by claiming fealty to small government, cost cutting, and lower spending. So with all this small government/low spending fever sweeping the political classes, what does Barack Obama do? He forces policies on federal building projects that inflates costs by the millions. And why would he do this? As a payoff to unions that gave him millions in campaign contributions, of course.
Ruinous PLAs Coming Your Way Lucas County, Ohio!
Stimulating the economy isn’t nearly as important to President Obama as putting federal dollars into the pockets of his union cronies. Because of Obama’s PLA Executive Order, thousands of jobs are going to unions in states that have few union members.
These sort of nonsensical comparisons, filled to the brim with hyperbolic foolishness, is what we get from the anti-Israeli Old Media so often that it almost fails to even surprise at this point. But, here is Reuters again indulging its inner terrorist, just the same.