Sandy’s Union Windfall

The Wall Street Journal

President Obama found an ally in Governor Chris Christie during Hurricane Sandy, but New Jersey taxpayers should hope they’ll go their separate ways on the clean-up. The President wants to direct federal tax money to unions in a way that will raise costs and spread the money thin.

The Army Corps of Engineers recently sought comments from the construction industry on using a so-called project labor agreement, or PLA, for Hurricane Sandy beach clean-up from Barnegat Inlet to Little Egg Inlet worth between $25 million and $100 million. The Army Corps will decide whether to require a PLA, which would establish a collective-bargaining agreement for any contractor who wants to bid on the project. Watch for unions singing in the rain.

In 2009, Mr. Obama signed an executive order encouraging federal agencies to mandate project labor agreements (on a case-by-case basis) for federal projects over $25 million. The agreements often require contractors to hire workers at union hiring halls (forcing non-union workers to join the union), pay into union benefit plans and force non-union employers to abide by union work rules....To Read More.....