A Message From the Director
Dear ABC Members,
We need your help.
Every three to four years, the Franklin County Commission votes to implement a project labor agreement on a high-profile county construction project. On May 2, 2017 the Commission voted to implement a PLA on the construction of a new correctional facility, set to break ground soon. This is the third project in the last decade that has used a PLA.
In the Fall of 2017 the City of Columbus for the first time entered into a “community-benefits agreement” with the Columbus Building & Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO to cover work on the city’s new fire station. The use what is essentially another PLA resulted in a low bid of $8 million for the project representing a cost of $364 per square foot. The average cost of the previous five stations built in 2017 was only $196 per square foot. We reached out to Mayor Ginther to warn him of this massive and unnecessary over spending, but he was unwilling to hear our concerns.
If left unchecked, we fear we will see additional PLA activity in Columbus.
While ABC Central Ohio weighed-in with its opinion in each instance, our voice has gone largely unnoticed as the County Commission and City Administration have been, and still are, unabashedly supportive of the Unions.
To fight this tide of Union influence, ABC Central Ohio has secured a $20,000 matching grant from the National Construction Legal Rights Foundation to implement an anti-PLA digital media campaign aimed to a target audience likely to influence city and county decision-makers. Our tentative start date will be in June and the campaign will run for five months through November 6, 2018. Nearly 200,000 digital ads to over 3,000 devices and IP addresses will be delivered each month.
Our success is dependent upon our member involvement. We are seeking financial contributions that will allow us to take full advantage of the available matching funds for this project. Please consider supporting the cause by clicking here.
Sincerely,
Barton Hacker |