President Obama's moves to boost the labor movement suffered a setback this week, when the administration was forced to cancel the first federal construction contract in more than a decade requiring union representation of workers.
The Department of Labor, citing a "need to evaluate the issues" surrounding the union-friendly bidding process, pulled the plug on the competition for a $35 million contract to build a 160,000-square-foot Job Corps Center in Manchester, N.H., after contractors formally challenged the union mandate.
The requirement, known as a "project labor agreement" or PLA, was adopted as one in a series of policy changes by Mr. Obama to strengthen the labor movement, though he has not delivered on unions' top legislative priority, the so-called "card-check" bill that would make it easier to organize workplaces. ...
linkThat whole hopey changey thing is just not taking off.