We recently launched a campaign to urge that ESA members contact their elected Representatives and Senators in the US Congress and request that they co-sponsor H.R. 1858 and S. 907, known as the “Fair and Open Competition Act.” This legislation simply prohibits federally funded construction contracts from requiring collective bargaining contracts between contractors and employees or NOT requiring collective bargaining contracts. The bill only requires that the federal government remain neutral about contractors and their employees. We recently launched a campaign to urge that ESA members contact their elected Representatives and Senators in the US Congress and request that they co-sponsor H.R. 1858 and S. 907, known as the “Fair and Open Competition Act.”
This legislation simply prohibits federally funded construction contracts from requiring collective bargaining contracts between contractors and employees or NOT requiring collective bargaining contracts. The bill only requires that the federal government remain neutral about contractors and their employees.
You may ask why a bill like this is even necessary. While the issue is quite complex, at the heart of it all is – Labor Unions. I am talking about the SEIU, Teamsters, AFL-CIO type unions with large buildings across the street from the White House.
These unions are threatened by a recent Supreme Court decision that allowed public sector workers to opt-out of mandatory “agency fees” that they had to pay if they didn’t want to join the unions, which often spent millions lobbying for political causes and candidates that these members personally opposed. These “agency fees” often approached the cost of dues.
According to “The Watchdog”, the union of record in the Supreme Court decision, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), lost 98 percent of its agency fee-paying members in 2018 and SEIU lost 94 percent of its fee-paying members since the “Janus v. AFSCME” decision. Between the two unions, that represents almost $13 million in revenue.
So, let’s fast forward to 2019 and the current legislative session. We are now seeing bills being filed in states across the country that would force any public works project contractors and their subcontractors to use only Department of Labor recognized apprentices for these projects. What does that mean? Union labor. Union Contracts. Union Dues.
The AFL-CIO, Teamsters and others realize the Supreme Court is not going to provide them with favorable rulings and may very well rule similarly on private sector collective bargaining contracts. The loss of dues revenue could be significant and as unions are well known for, the best defense is a good offense.
They are using their political capital in state legislatures and in Congress to get favorable legislation that will force contractors to exclusively use recognized apprentices for all apprenticeable trades, resulting in union control of the apprentices they employ.
H.R. 1858 and S. 907 stand as a roadblock to the union strategy, at least with regard to federally funded projects. Whether this bill would ever apply to your business depends on whether your business would ever engage as a contractor with a federal, state or local government or being a subcontractor for any contractor that does.
If the answer to that question is yes, then we ask you to be heard and get your elected officials to co-sponsor these bills. www.esaweb.org/BeHeard