An excellent Monday story by the Post-Gazette’s Kris Mamula exposes the fact that the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is discriminating against non-union companies in the awarding of licenses for cannabis growers.
And, simply put, the practice must stop – not only in the burgeoning legal medical marijuana-growing industry but in any state licensure/contracting practices.
But as Mamula writes:
“Here’s the dilemma: the licensing preference that Pennsylvania hands cannabis companies — smoothing the way for unionization in exchange for labor peace at their stores — may not hold up in court. The issue is who will take up the challenge.”
Other than the blatant discrimination the practice clearly is, Michael C. Duff, a former National Labor Relations Board litigator and now a professor at the St. Louis University School of Law, tells the P-G that such “labor peace agreements” (sometimes called “project labor agreements” in public works applications), amount to “trying to regulate the process of collective bargaining.”
“What you’re doing is putting a thumb on the scale, making it easier for a union entity to start up,” Duff told Mamula. “It’s a kinder, gentler way of interfering in the collective bargaining process.”
And, while raising wages and benefits for the unionized, raising costs to the public.
“A downside to labor agreements is higher cost of goods because higher wage and better benefit costs are generally passed along to the consumer,” Mamula reminds.
No kidding.
But whether they are called “labor peace agreements,” “project labor agreements,” or anything else, the bottom line is that they are extortion.
And any government entity engaging in such a practice not only is discriminating against non-union companies but directly sanctioning such extortion.
It is criminal behavior that has no place in the prosecution of public policy. And it only confirms the reality that, in too many of its dealings, government has become a corrupt criminal enterprise.
Colin McNickle is communications and marketing director at the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (cmcnickle@alleghenyinstitute.org).
