LETTER: Project labor agreements protect hard-earned pay
Standard TimesProject labor agreements protect hard-earned pay In "Bad for Fall River?" (May 5) Greg Beeman says project labor agreements grant unions a "monopoly" on construction work in Massachusetts. He is dead wrong. A PLA does not, in fact cannot, limit bidding on public projects to union contractors. All it does is establish standard wages, hours and working conditions on a project. Beeman doesn't tell you that despite aggressive enforcement by the attorney general, there are still many contractors who win public projects by cheating their workers out of their wages. With regard to Fall River schools, which he cites, one of Beeman's members sued Fall River to block the use of a PLA, substantially delaying the opening of the schools in the process. He also doesn't tell you that multiple non-union contractors, including his members, were cited by the attorney general for cheating workers out of tens of thousands of dollars on those same projects. Is that what he means by a "fair shake?" A PLA would have protected those workers' paychecks. PLAs are not "bad for Fall River." They are only bad for dishonest contractors who rob their workers of their hard-earned pay. Paul S. MacLean President Southeastern, Cape Cod and Islands Building Trades Council New Bedford undefined |
