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On behalf of the Associated Builders & Contractors Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter and its 450 member companies, we are upset the Wilkes-Barre Area School District requires a discriminatory union-only Project Labor Agreement (PLA) on the $7 million Edward Mackin School renovation.
This requirement demands that all construction workers on the project must be signatory to the respective trade union. According to the latest U.S. Dept. of Labor statistics, 76 percent of construction workers in Pennsylvania choose to not be signatory to a construction union. With more than three-quarters of local workers unable to work on the project, the remaining union-only firms will most certainly raise prices, knowing that competition will be reduced.
The Pennsylvania taxpayer gets robbed every day of the week and yet no one goes to jail. Studies of projects with and without a PLA have shown a 20 to 30 percent savings in construction dollars for projects bid competitively to all qualified contractors. For the Mackin project, this could equate to significant savings for the district.
I urge the school board to rescind this agreement immediately and save the wasted taxpayer dollars it will cost to implement this discriminatory contract that goes to the privileged few.
Mary Tebeau
President and CEO
Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter
Associated Builders & Contractors Inc.
Allentown