Organized Labor's Green Blackmail
According to a recent peice by James Sherk, The Heritage Foundation:
Organized Labor has a long history with extortion and the mob. Federal prosecutors have put most of those mob bosses behind bars, but unions haven’t renounced using blackmail to get what they want. They simply use more sophisticated methods to do the same thing.
Take the way unions exploit environmental concerns through Project Labor Agreements. Under PLAs, businesses promise to hire only union members — or else. Why would businesses sign such agreements? Because unions threaten to use environmental regulations to shut them down unless they sign the PLA.
The law requires companies to get environmental permits to begin major construction projects. The process takes time, and community groups may object to awarding the permits.
Unions can misuse these laws to kill a project outright — or at least delay it for several years. They can file environmental objections, conduct their own environmental impact assessment that shows that letting it go forward would harm the Earth, and use their influence to block companies from getting the necessary permits. Many businesses face an offer they can’t refuse: Sign a PLA and hire more expensive union members to construct their buildings, or the union will use environmental laws to shutter the project...click to continue.
