Master Builders of Iowa

Wow, it didn’t take long for the Iowa Department of Corrections and DAS to respond to the Governors encouragement to consider PLA’s. The Executive Order 22 meeting for both Departments were held last week, only a few days after the Governors proclamation and Executive Order signing at the Annual Convention of the Iowa State Building and Trades Convention, February 8, 2010.The Executive Order 22 and the proposed PLA, (based upon the Iowa Events Center model) is being considered by Corrections and DAS on the upcoming corrections projects in Mitchellville and Fort Madison.

The proposed PLA collective bargaining agreement, first and foremost, exclusively favors building trade unions, their internal financing systems and overall organizing goals. MBI has long maintained that PLA’s and like efforts are a dagger to the heart of Iowa’s Right to Work law.  Other possible beneficiaries may be the union mechanical and electrical trades - although employers will pay a heavy price in collateral damage to their local collective bargaining process. With the proposed PLA, the unions will no longer need to bargain with employers since the public owners are forced into that role on public works projects and area practices remain long after the job is over. The same goes for the collective bargaining process for the local general contractors. In addition, quasi-union or non-union contractors will be adversely affected because they will be forced to act as if they are union for all the crafts on the job. This means that union, non-union and quasi-union general contractors will have mandatory business relations with all labor unions with whom they have disaffiliated, or were never affiliated, as part of their company operations.
 
All eyes should be on the Iowa Events Center PLA fiasco that was put into effect by the Polk County Board of Supervisors in 2001. Hindsight is 20-20 and that budget was busted, after being increased time and time again. The actual Budget was finally established at 217 million. The final IEC project cost was closer to 227 million dollars, or nearly 10 million over budget, as Polk County reports the final result. The project did not come in on time either. So much for the PLA “guarantee of on time and under budget”. While it is clear that all of the excess costs don’t relate directly to the PLA, many millions likely did and there are Polk County insiders who would confirm that, probably off the record.

The proposed DAS and Corrections PLA represent an equal opportunity business intrusion for all contractors because the one thing PLA’s do for sure is mandate how all companies will run their business for their projects over 25 million.  Be it if you are union, quasi-union or non-union, the result is the same. The job will be run by the government and we all know what that means, with no offense to DAS and Corrections, who have no background or experience in PLA administration. Your expertise as a builder and the benefits you bring to the owner (and taxpayer) will become secondary to the labor management- political process. The government will tell you how to run your company and business, as outlined in the agreement and as interpreted by the building trades. All businesses, construction or not, should be concerned about this approach as it closely resembles the federal government takeovers of the automotive, financial industries and now proposed for the health care industries. Scary!

MBI is opposed to injecting this kind of politics into public works projects and is working hard to educate all stake holders and the taxpaying public about the losing aspects of this approach.

MBI opposes public PLA’s all together as bad public policy. Public works projects should not be the subject of political outcomes as everyone, especially the taxpayer, loses.
 
CLICK HERE for the legislative fiscal notes on the cost impact for Prevailing/PLA Wages.