San Diego Republicans Back Open Competition

Project Labor Agreements are anti-competitive, which is why President Bush signed an Executive Order banning them on public works projects where federal dollars are involved. Such agreements, known as PLA’s, restrict construction to only unionized firms. With most minority-owned contracting firms being non-union, the impact of PLA’s is often to eliminate such firms from bidding on public works projects, while at the same time driving up costs to taxpayers by prohibiting merit shop firms from bidding on projects. The Republican Party of San Diego County on Monday night endorsed the principle of open competition just as proponents of an ordinance requiring open competition is about to go into circulation in the city of Chula Vista.