August 2013 Newsletter - ABC

and conclusively determine whether
they are being presented with fraudulent
documents.
South Carolina Becomes
17th State to Ban
Government-Mandated
Project Labor Agreements
on Taxpayer-Funded
Projects
Associated Builders and Contractors
(ABC) celebrated a victory after South
Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signed a bill
(S.438) into law that will prohibit state
government entities from requiring contractors
to sign a project labor agreement
(PLA) or other agreements with labor
unions as a condition of performing
work on public construction projects.
“This is a victory for taxpayers in South
Carolina, along with the majority of
construction workers in the state that
choose to work for merit shop contractors,”
said ABC Vice President of Federal
Affairs Geoff Burr. “The new law ensures
taxpayers will get the best possible construction
project at the best possible
price by increasing competition, reducing
waste and eliminating special interest
handouts to labor bosses.”
South Carolina is the 17th state to take
action to protect taxpayers and the vast
majority of the construction industry
workforce from wasteful and discriminatory
PLA mandates. Additionally, it’s
the 13th state to enact reform since
President Obama issued Executive Order
13502 in February 2009, which encourages
federal agencies to require PLAs
on federal construction projects costing
more than $25 million and allows state
and local governments to require PLAs
on federally assisted projects.
A PLA is a special interest scheme that
discourages competition from qualified
contractors and their workers by requiring
a construction contract to be awarded
only to contractors and subcontractors
that agree to recognize unions as
the representatives of their employees
on that job; use the union hall to obtain
workers; obey the union’s restrictive
apprenticeship and work rules; and
contribute to union pension plans and
other funds from which their nonunion
employees will never benefit unless
they join a union.
PLA and other union-only mandates
have been found to increase construction
costs by an average of 12 to18 percent—and
much more in some cases.
10 | Merit Shop Message | August 2013