The GOP:  Fighting to ensure no one but their rich friends can earn a living wage in America.

Keep pretending you have something in common with the Koch Brothers folks.  You don’t.  You have more in common with someone living in Section 8 housing than the folks the GOP cater to.  Keep shooting yourself in the foot though, you must like giving your money to the rich.

Unlike the Phase 1 PLA that exempted merit shop contractors from having to sign, Phase 2 would effectively discriminate against 96% of Virginia’s private construction workforce that happens to not belong to a union. When you use a PLA to block that large of a population from working on a job, you obviously decrease competition and the cost skyrockets. 

So the highly skilled, highly trained Virginians who are not part of a union are being discriminated against on a job that our own tax dollars are paying for.

Provisions in the PLA related to safety, drug testing, scheduling, strike prohibitions, and wage and benefit rates are already standard practice in most construction contracts.

MWAA can require all of these provisions and federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wage and benefit rates without the discriminatory and costly provisions of a PLA. We’re talking between $250 and $500 million added on to this project by using a majority of out-of-state union workers. Why on earth would Virginia’s taxpayers and toll road users put up with this?

The bottom line is that both non-union and union workers should have a chance to build this important project free of a discriminatory PLA – just as they were on Phase 1, the Pentagon, Wilson Bridge, etc. The rights of employees to work regardless of race, gender, OR membership or non-membership in a labor organization must be protected. Work opportunities should be made available to all. 

Oh and is it fair that a LiUNA union boss is on the board of MWAA? For goodness sake, how unethical can you get?

Gotta love it - unions bus in paid union “activists” (aka protestors-for-hire) from god-knows-where to tell our Congressman to “go home.”

The only people unions employ are these slobs, and the criminal conspirators that run the unions, skimming their salaries off the top, and using the rest for graft. 

Workers are employed by construction firms, not by the unions.  These construction firms are the ones the deliver these projects, on-time and under-budget, not the unions. 

Virginia is a right-to-work state, and the MWAA is trying to circumvent state laws (another back-door gift to the unions from the administration.)  The unions pay the politicians, the politicians pay the unions. 

And save all the talk about “the working man” - most working people aren’t in unions. 

Speaking of which, what a surprise, Jeff Barnett shows up carrying water for the unions - how much union money did you get last cycle, Barnett? 

Thank you Congressman Wolf.

I would like to see local people get the jobs as long as they are legal citizens.

Blacks protesting on a workday. Oh yeah I forgot, no job

The Republicans seem to think we need to pay Chinese-level wages to remain competitive.

Thank you Frank for sticking up for some fiscal responsibility.  Looks like we have some conflicts of interest on the board that need some reclusion from re-voting this plan.  If they cannot operate this in a fiscally conservative way, we should just put it on hold and finish it when we get so much extra money that we cannot think of anything else to waste it on.  Maybe we could use that money we save to buy the greenway, put in some more non-toll highway roads, fix the ashburn nightmare on route 28 left hand turn, etc…  The rail going to Dulles doesn’t help me in any way going to work in other areas around DC.  Definitely a waste of my money.  Can we have it stop in the democratic stronghold of fairfax, so we do not have to help pay for it? 

Busing folks in from DC to protest a local VA politician, not very classy.  That’s right, union folks, same guys that killed the auto industry, forced manufacturing out of this country, make illegal contributions to the anti-working man democrats.  Unions used to be helpful, but then we had Vietnam and they have been screwing us up since then.

Frank Wolf.  Over 30 years in the House and he is not even mentioned as a power broker.  He chairs a worthless committee that does absolutely nothing for his district.  He fails to come up with much funding for this project, then he stands up to criticize it.  Same with the Greenway last year.  Too bad bumbling old Frank didn’t do something to help this area’s residents out in the first place.  Instead he waits until the situation gets bad enough and then pretends he is on our side. 

“I did not then believe, and I do not now believe, that any man should ever attempt to make politics his only career.  It is a dreadful misfortune for a man to grow to feel that his whole livelihood and whole happiness depend upon his staying in office.  Such a feeling prevents him from being of real service to the people while in office, and always puts him under the heaviest strain of pressure to barter his convictions for the sake of holding office.”
-  Theodore Roosevelt

Thanks Todd
I lived over 20 years in Europe so I know first hand what socialism looks like.
When your parents get home remind them to make sure you take your meds.

Thanks, “Tired Taxpayer”! It’s nice to know that there are still one or two nutjobs still chanting “socialism” without any idea what the word means.

Keep up the good work! And take your meds.

Rail-to-Dulles remains an underfunded disaster. The biggest problem is Frank Wolf’s failure to get proper federal funding. Of the projected $6.25 billion cost, only 14% comes from the Federal government. The nationwide average for Federal funding of mass-transit rail is 38%. Rail projects in Dallas and Seattle, with no federal impacts, got 42-50% federal funding. Rail-to-Dulles should have received at least that much if not more. After all, connecting our Nation’s capital by rail to its international airport is in the federal interest. But Wolf only got 14% for us! If he had done his job and just obtained the nationwide average, we would have an additional $1.5 billion dollars for Rail-to-Dulles. That would pay for decent wages, parking garages, an underground station at Dulles, a tunnel under Tysons, and cuts to tolls on 237. None of that will happen because of Frank Wolf. He let us down on Rail-to-Dulles. We will be living with his failure for decades. JEFF BARNETT

One of the most frequent visitors to the white house has been service employees international union president Andrew Stern.

I guess we know who is behind this activity and directing the entitlement philosophy.

The problem with socialism is sooner than later you run out of working people to take (embezzle) money from.

Watching people vote AGAINST their personal interests would be amusing if it weren’t so pitiful.

The state of our working class has gotten so poor that people seem to actually resent those who have some/any benefits and a meager retirement package.

The biggest coup of the modern GOP has been convincing America’s lower classes that they have an actual chance of improving their lot if they just work hard and “fight to protect their freedoms from Union thugs”. Watching people vote their personal interests would be amusing if it weren’t so pitiful.

I’ll take a “Union thug” over a 30 year career politician any day of the week. Most of these neanderthal union bashers have no idea of the history which led to working collectively bargaining, nor could they walk a day doing the real work of the country.

The thing that surprises me the most is that Frank Wolf woke up long enough to hold a press conference.

I’ve voted for Frank for years. But when he decided to step onto the GOP’s anti-union platform, he lost me. He forgets who he’s supposed to be representing.

“Because of the job I have with the union, I’ve been able to buy a house, provide for my children, and even save some money for college,” said James Jackson Jr. who was among the protesters.

I think this dope is confused. He probably doesn’t work for a union. I think he is represented by a union. He likely works for someone who has risked his house, etc to run a business and that hires lots of people. The business owner pays this guy. Of course, he may work for the union, doing important things like scheduling bus trips to Herndon.

Bussed in from DC….and telling Frank Wolf to “go home”?
These losers are ready to attend anything that resembles a money hand-out. Wolf has earned his fiscal stripe on this one….and this Virginia boy was proud of him for guarding the taxpayer’s wallet AND Right-to-work Status of Virginia.

I’ve only been in the NOVA/DC area for four years, but with articles like this it’s easy to see why the infrastructure is so messed up.  One hour delays on main highways on a daily basis with a surrounding area of a meager 5 million population. Like many regions in the country of the car, this area is a complete failure of city planning. Corruption and greed has more influence on decision making than overall functionality and long term convenience for the population.
Also, please think about long term expenses before you automatically choose the option that is cheaper initially!  Decisions based on less expensive initial construction is also destroying the functionality of this city.

It’s funny these “protestors” are bused in from somewhere else and provided a free lunch to make some noise.  Ridiculous!

The right to peaceful protest shouldn’t include the right to drown out the speaker(s) being protested.  Too many times I’ve read about unruly protestors preventing an opposing viewpoint from being heard.  The right to peaceable assembly and protest are important parts of democracy because that allows for the discussion of different viewpoints.  Discussion means you have to listen, not just speak.

Thanks Teddy for this info “Loud and unruly “members” of Laborers Union (LIUNA) Local 657 were bused in from Washington, D.C”

NOW I KNOW WHERE THEY FOUND THAT MANY PEOPLE WHO HAD NOTHING TO (LIKE WORK) AND HAVE BEEN ACCUSTOMED TO SPONGING OFF WE TAXPAYERS

I was at this event. Loud and unruly “members” of Laborers Union (LIUNA) Local 657 were bused in from Washington, D.C. to shout down U.S. Representative Frank Wolf and other speakers at a press conference yesterday concerning $3.5 billion worth of construction on Phase 2 of the Dulles Metro Rail project in Virginia.

Rep. Wolf called the press conference to object to the Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority’s recent decision to build an underground metro station at Dulles Airport that will cost Virginia, Fairfax County and Loudoun County taxpayers and Dulles tollway users an additional $330 million and threatens the financing of Phase 2 construction under current funding models and agreements with MWAA and local financial stakeholders.

Rep. Wolf and other speakers also opposed MWAA’s union-favoring project labor agreement (PLA) mandate, which will give construction labor unions a virtual monopoly building Phase 2 of the project. The PLA will increase Phase 2 construction costs by an estimated 12 percent to 18 percent, discourage competition from Virginia construction firms, and discriminate against 96 percent of the Virginia construction workforce that chooses not to belong to a union. The anti-competitive special-interest PLA will bust budgets and lead to out-of-state workers (like LIUNA local 657 “members”) taking jobs from Virginia construction workers and taxpayers.

There is an element of corruption to this too (big surprise). MWAA board member Dennis Martire is the Vice President and Mid-Atlantic Regional Manager of the Laborers’ International Union of North American (LiUNA). Martire pushed for the PLA on Phase 2, which will result in his employer, LIUNA, and his members and LIUNA pension plans and other union slush funds receiving a significant financial windfall.

This is corrupt self-dealing that needs to be exposed. The LIUNA members at yesterday’s press conference were sent by the very MWAA member—Dennis Martire—that pushed for this union-favoring scheme on $3.5 billion worth of publicly-funded construction.

How did that Gorilla get out of jail?

The union struggle?  Please.  My grandfather was in a union.  My dad worked at the company one summer as a teenager.  My dad inspected too many parts per hour to suit the union, so the union took him in the bathroom + beat him up. 

You should wake up.  GE supports the Democrats.  GE campaign donations led to the fiasco of The Democratic Congress passing laws to force us to buy those mercury laden curly lightbulbs - by outlawing everything else.  You need a hazmat suit just to dispose of them. 

Do any of the slobs in this picture look like they’ve done anything but freeload their whole lives?  The paper should do less passive reporting and go find out where these people were bussed in from.

At least Wolf has supported our federal government having some badly needed financial restraint. We shouldn’t have bothered with this waste of a project to begin with.

The last thing we needed to do was throw more money at Metro. Look at how things are running… cost overruns, wanting the more expensive options that are unnecessary wastes like an underground station…

None of this needed to be built. I hope Loudoun County pulls out of the project entirely, as I abhor having a single dollar of my county taxes wasted in this manner.

Two days off a week, health-care plans, paid vacations, pension plans—all from the union struggle. Wolf follows the GOP game plan of reduced wages for workers and $3.2 billion tax credits for GE. Wake up.

And unions wonder why everyone considers them thugs.

The working man?  How are you any more entitled than anyone else who gets up and goes to work?  Union leaders are thugs and cowards who steal from their members, keep a good chunk + transfer the rest to Democrats.  They know the jig is up- that’s why they’re so desperate.

What a joke… tell the union thugs to carry their arse back north of the Mason Dixon line where they belong… I am sure these are IMPORTED protestor types as is normal for libtards…

They mention health insurance yet appear to be morbidly obese.

Typical union thuggery when someone wants to look out for the wallet of the taxpayers.  There was a sign about denial of health insurance…what exactly does that have to do with an above or below ground Metro

I wonder if any of these fine protesters missed a day from work. I also wonder what organization recruited and paid these folks.
I see a sign demanding more federal money.That entitlement mentality is the reason our country is broke. We are approaching a tipping point where our economy may not be able to recover. We have a spending problem that needs correction.
I blame both Republicans and Democrats for allowing us to reach this point.
If you saw the stock market today you see that the credit rating for America is in jeopardy of being down graded for the first time in our history.
Are we too blind to see what has happened to Greece and Ireland.

About time Frank Wolf came out of Washington and saw what the votes he’s been casting create for the working man.