[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 17, 1999)]
[House]
[Pages H1337-H1338]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                VOTE AGAINST UNION-ONLY LABOR CONTRACTS

  (Mr. BALLENGER asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. BALLENGER. Mr. Speaker, the President and the Vice President have 
worked diligently in the past few years to link Federal projects to 
union-only construction firms. Unfortunately, the Los Angeles Unified 
School District is following suit by proposing a new major $2.4 billion 
school construction initiative, using only unionized contractors.
  I say this is unfortunate because union-only contracts increase the 
cost of construction projects by limiting competition, which results in 
higher

[[Page H1338]]

labor costs. It has been estimated by some that the union-only project 
labor agreement could increase the construction cost by 10 to 15 
percent. This means that funds aimed at building and renovating some of 
Los Angeles' schools would actually be lost to artificially high labor 
cost.
  I am a firm believer that the lowest qualified bidder for these 
building projects should be able to win the construction job, 
regardless of union affiliation. Quite frankly, I find it against the 
American spirit of healthy competition to put rules in place that work 
otherwise.
  I hope that when this project labor agreement is voted upon on the 
23rd of this month, the Los Angeles Unified School District will vote 
for the best interest of their students and against an anti-education 
project labor agreement.

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