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What if a company announced it was hiring
dozens of people in your community, but said 98 percent of the qualified
applicants shouldn’t bother applying because they weren’t even going to be
considered?
What if somebody said that the only way for
you to get a job in your community was to join an exclusive club dominated by
out-of-state interests who don’t share your values?
What if you were a business owner and were
told that even though you earned a job through a competitive bid, you still had
to pay a kickback to an outside group — driving up your costs and decimating
your profits?
Those “what-ifs” are exactly what you get
when the government forces project labor agreements (PLAs) onto taxpayer-funded
construction. That’s why Associated Builders and Contractors supports state
Rep. Bill Sandifer’s, R-Seneca, efforts to ensure fair and open competition on
government construction projects through the Right to Work Act of 2012.
Rep. Sandifer, chairman of the House Labor
Commerce and Industry Committee, introduced the bill to prohibit state and
local governments in South Carolina from imposing PLAs. Gov. Nikki Haley also
has expressed support for the bill.
PLAs are pre-hire deals that set certain
rules for contractors and subcontractors that work on a construction job. A
typical PLA will require contractors and subcontractors to go through labor
unions to hire workers for a project, pay union wages, follow inefficient union
work rules, and pay into union benefit plans during the life of the project.
PLAs were born in an era when almost every
construction worker belonged to a union. Nowadays, only 14 percent of America's
private construction workforce belongs to a union. That number is only 3
percent in South Carolina. In the modern construction marketplace, PLAs tilt
the playing field in favor of a small group and threaten to shut out everyone
else.
The Obama administration has strongly
encouraged federal agencies to consider using PLAs on large federal construction
projects, making government-mandated PLAs more common in recent years. In South
Carolina, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers is considering a PLA mandate for a
barracks construction project at Fort Jackson.
If these special interest handouts are
allowed to proliferate in South Carolina, local contractors will effectively be
shut out of bidding on work. Instead, the jobs will go to out-of-state firms.
Out-of-state workers with union connections will flock to the area, resulting
in fewer opportunities for our citizens.
Adding insult to injury, workers who live
and pay taxes in South Carolina will see the price of public construction rise,
as PLA mandates add an unnecessary layer of union-fueled costs to each project.
In the end, the working-class taxpayer loses a job opportunity while also being
soaked for additional tax dollars.
The good news is 11 states have taken
action to ban government-mandated PLAs, with even more poised to do so in 2012.
South Carolina has the opportunity to join the group of states that believe
contractors should be able to competitively bid projects based on merit and not
on union affiliation.
Economic development often hinges on a
company building a new facility or expanding an existing one. PLAs have a
negative impact on the business environment in a state, and could make it
harder for South Carolina to remain competitive and attractive compared to
states that more fully embrace the right-to-work concept. As the economy
improves, South Carolina must be positioned to earn its share of new job
creation opportunities.
At Associated Builders and Contractors, our
core belief is that public construction projects should be awarded on the merit
of a contractor’s work. Our nation’s greatness is built on fair and free
markets. PLAs threaten fairness. The Right to Work Act of 2012 will ensure that
business owners are treated fairly and local citizens get the most value for
their tax dollars on construction projects.
If these special interest handouts are
allowed to proliferate in South Carolina, local contractors will effectively be
shut out of bidding on work. Instead, the jobs will go to out-of-state firms.
Out-of-state workers with union connections will flock to the area, resulting
in fewer opportunities for our citizens.
Adding insult to injury, workers who live
and pay taxes in South Carolina will see the price of public construction rise,
as PLA mandates add an unnecessary layer of union-fueled costs to each project.
In the end, the working-class taxpayer loses a job opportunity while also being
soaked for additional tax dollars.
The good news is 11 states have taken
action to ban government-mandated PLAs, with even more poised to do so in 2012.
South Carolina has the opportunity to join the group of states that believe
contractors should be able to competitively bid projects based on merit and not
on union affiliation.
Economic development often hinges on a
company building a new facility or expanding an existing one. PLAs have a
negative impact on the business environment in a state, and could make it
harder for South Carolina to remain competitive and attractive compared to
states that more fully embrace the right-to-work concept. As the economy
improves, South Carolina must be positioned to earn its share of new job
creation opportunities.
At Associated Builders and Contractors, our
core belief is that public construction projects should be awarded on the merit
of a contractor’s work. Our nation’s greatness is built on fair and free
markets. PLAs threaten fairness. The Right to Work Act of 2012 will ensure that
business owners are treated fairly and local citizens get the most value for
their tax dollars on construction projects.
Brian Gallagher is chairman of the Upstate
SC Council of the Associated Builders and Contractors of the Carolinas. ABC is
dedicated to the protection and enhancement of the free enterprise system
within the construction industry. This article orginally appeared in the Greenville News on February 25, 2012.
