City's union support costs taxpayers

Take, for example, the right to work. The reason our glorious country has attracted so many immigrants in its short history: In the U.S., you can find work.

But in recent years, Anchorage City Hall has dampened the American dream of finding work by adopting rules that are nothing more than discriminatory at best and outright extortion at worst.

Did you know there are provisions in place requiring nonunion contractors who want to do electrical work for the city of Anchorage to first agree to sign on with the IBEW, the electrical workers union? If nonunion contractors want to do city work, they have to give cash to the union. Contractors have to pay into the IBEW's pension fund, help pay for its training program and pay IBEW dues.

Rebecca Logan, president of the Associated Builders and Contractors, an organization working to protect the rights of Alaska's nonunion workers, says this requirement, which duplicates benefit payments, costs the average nonunion company an extra $40,000 per worker, per year, per city contract. This obviously drives up the costs of city bids, meaning taxpayers are left with the bill.

But there is more. According to LM2s, reports filed by local unions with the U.S. Department of Labor, close to 70 percent of construction workers in the state are nonunion. This "pay the union cash or don't work" policy, for all practical purposes, discriminates against 7 in 10 workers in the state. Meaning fewer companies will bid on city jobs, again driving up the price of the work for taxpayers.

But the most egregious part is not that it costs taxpayers more by making bids less competitive. The worst part is it extorts money from companies and workers who chose not to join a union.

Why would our city leaders adopt such an un-American policy? If they cared about taxpayers and fairness, wouldn't they try to undo such nonsense?

Instead, the Anchorage Assembly, just last month, expanded the policy of funneling cash from nonunion companies to the IBEW. The so-called Socialist Six on the assembly approved a new five-year IBEW contract greatly expanding the scope of the discriminatory practice.

The new contract broadens the "give the union cash or don't work policy" from two city departments to five, including maintenance and operations. Logan says maintenance and operations is where most bids for electrical work are found.

How much will this expansion of anti-competition policy drive up the cost for taxpayers? No one in city government seems to know, or care, for that matter.

On my radio show this week I asked city manager Mike Abbott to justify how forcing companies that make up the majority of the work force to give the IBEW union cash is good public policy and good for taxpayers. Abbott said the question is way above his pay grade. But he did say this is the way it's always been done.

But since it is clearly such a bad policy, why would the Begich administration and the Socialist Six on the Assembly expand it with the new IBEW contract?

This mystery is no mystery. The IBEW and its members have been strong supporters of former Mayor Begich and the Socialist Six on the Assembly. The former mayor and the Socialist Six know that support comes with a price.

IBEW union members are clearly getting good returns for their campaign contributions. Not only did Begich and the Socialist Six just lock in Anchorage taxpayers to a five-year lucrative sweetheart deal for the IBEW union. They also used the full force of government to funnel cash directly into the coffers of the union. Tony Soprano would be proud.

My country, 'tis of thee, it ain't what it used to be.

Dan Fagan hosts The Dan Fagan Radio Show on AM 750 KFQD and publishes the Webcsite thealaskastandard.com.