This is nothing more than the most egregious and disgusting form of political payoff:
Barely 15 percent of all construction-industry workers in the United States are union members, while the remaining 85 percent are nonunion, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics. So why has President Obama signed Executive Order 13502 directing federal agencies taking bids for government construction projects to accept only those from contractors who agree in advance to a project labor agreement that requires a union work force?…
…By eliminating the vast majority of potential bidders on federal construction projects, Obama guarantees two things. First, the projects will cost taxpayers more because union labor is always more expensive. And with mandated PLAs, the cost premium for union contractors will be even greater because fewer bidders always means less competition and higher prices. Second, by guaranteeing unions a bigger stream of federal contracts, Obama is making sure that Big Labor, already among the Democrats’ biggest sources of campaign cash, will have even more money to hand out for the 2010 and 2012 elections.
This is just nauseating – Obama is telling the vast majority of American construction workers that he doesn’t give a darn about them. He’s saying that the American economy and the taxpayer’s money are reserved only for groups which back the Democrat party. Essentially, Obama is impounding our government and economy in favor of his supporters, everyone else can go jump in a lake.
All Americans have a right to bid on all government contracts. The only things which should bear on whether a bid is accepted is the price offered and the ability to perform the task. All other considerations are simply un-American and should not come in to play.
This is just another example of what we fight against – this liberal notion that politics trumps everything. Obama is just locking down his union support for the 2010 and 2012 elections – what happens to the country just isn’t a factor in the decision.
HAT TIP: Mish’s
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