GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS 


Donate to ABC PAC - support the causes and candidates and help in the fight to protect fair and open competition

Click here to donate today. Questions about the action ABC is taking to protect your rights to operate in an open shop environment? Contact Bill Baber or Scott Crosby in the Chapter Office.  


ABC National Denounces Healthcare Reform Bill & Backdoor Tactics


March 16, 2010 - ABC vehemently opposed the U.S. Senate-passed version of the “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” (H.R. 3590) based on provisions contained in the bill that will harm the construction industry, as well as the tactics being considered to get it to pass the U.S. House of Representatives.  In the letter sent to all members of the House, ABC noted that it will consider all votes on H.R. 3590 to be “key votes.”  

H.R. 3590 contains government mandates likely to increase premiums requiring every individual to purchase health care, in addition to $28 billion in new taxes on employers that do not provide government-approved health plans.  The bill also singles out the construction industry by requiring firms with an average of five or more employees during the previous year and whose annual payroll expenses exceed $250,000 to pay for health insurance for their workers or be subject to a federally imposed fine of $750 per employee.  Comparatively, H.R. 3590 generally exempts other small businesses with fewer than 50 employees from the fines.   

“Our nation cannot afford the enormous cost of this bill, with some estimates placing the cost at $2.5 trillion over 10 years of full implementation, and a very real possibility of a final dollar amount eclipsing what is estimated,” ABC stated in its letter. “If enacted, taxes are projected to increase by nearly half a trillion dollars, much of which will fall squarely on the shoulders of America’s small businesses.

Click here to read more on the action ABC has taken to address this important issue.

 

____________________________________________________________________________

Essential Language of Chula Vista City Ordinance, September 1, 2009

2.59.030 Requirements for Fair and Open Competition in Contracting

In contracting for the construction, maintenance, repair, improvement or replacement of public works projects:

(a) The City shall not fund, in whole or in part, or enter into, any contract which contains a requirement that a contracting party:

(1) execute, comply with, or become a party to an agreement between a Labor organization, on the one hand, and the

City, the Contracting Party, or any third party on the other;

(2) become a signatory to a collective bargaining agreement;

(3) be required to make payments on behalf of employees to union benefit plans or other trust funds;

(4) require its employees to be represented by a Labor organization; or

(5) encourage or discourage employees of a contracting party to have representation by a Labor organization.

(b) The City shall not impose, as a bid specification, contract prerequisite, contract term or otherwise, any requirement prohibited

by subsection (a) of this Section.

(c) Nothing in this Section shall be construed as prohibiting private parties covered by this provision from entering into individual

collective bargaining relationships, or otherwise as regulating or interfering with activity protected by applicable law, including

but not limited to the Act.

(d) Any person aggrieved or injured in any way by a violation of this Section shall be entitled to injunctive relief in the Superior

Court of the State of California, County of San Diego, including by way of an action filed pursuant to California Code of Civil

Procedure section 526a.

______________________________________________________________________________________

More News To Come!

Big Labor Fights Against Fair and Open Competition Ordinance

In 1960 almost eighty percent of the contractors doing commercial, industrial and even service work were union firms. Open shop contractors who tried to enter the market were burned out, beaten up, picketed by hundreds (in some cases, thousands) of chanting, threatening union workers.


ABC and its members in those days were under constant threat. But they stuck with it. In the very early seventies, after violence had become epidemic, the association filed a nation wide charge against every national union and most of the union locals. The charges were before the National Labor Relations Board and they were unprecedented. The result was a dampening of the violence.

Before this and other significant legal and legislative actions, merit shop projects were bombed and burned with terrible regularity. Yet ABC and its members persevered.

Now, the unions tend to be less violent, less obtrusive and in large part due to the efforts of ABC and its members, much less successful. Today only about fifteen percent of commercial and industrial construction work is performed by union contractors.

But the unions have not quit; they are still there, still demanding that work be all union, still pressing on law makers and regulators to limit the rights of merit shop contractors. And ABC and its members are still fighting the good fight.

The stronger ABC is, the better it is at helping you defend the right to run your businesses as you chose – as merit shop contractors.

The Role of ABC San Diego's Legislative and PAC Committees


Get into politics or get out of business!

ABC San Diego Legislative Committee guides the government affairs actions of the chapter. This committee is gathering strength, having grown in response to the continuing merit shop struggle against a small 'special interest' group which believes it has the inherent right to dictate how ABC members run their businesses.

The ABC legislative committee consists of a wide cross section of members from general to specialty contractors and other industry associates. The committee focus is to fight for the rights of the merit shop. It remains an up-hill battle with organized labor controlling so much of the politics impacting our industry - and the politicians who push through laws that favor union over merit shop. For years we have been on the defensive. Today we are fighting back with equal or greater resolve. Our fight isn't pro- or anti-union. Rather, it's about what is right and fair based on our founding fathers philosophy of freedom, dignity, and the innate rights of citizens throughout the free world.

Join the Legislative and PAC Committees!

Contact Bill Baber or Scott Crosby if you would like to know more about the Legislative and PAC committees, or how to get involved.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy."
-Martin Luther King Jr.-







Sponsors