Nation's Largest Taxpayer Group Backs N.J. Activists' Fight Against Costly State Contract Rules

5/17/2002

From: Al Cors, Jr., 703-683-5700, or Sam Perelli, 973-857-2530, both of The National Taxpayers Union

ALEXANDRIA, Va., May 17 -- As New Jersey's budgetary woes threaten taxpayers with even more burdens, the 335,000-member National Taxpayers Union (NTU) today announced that it had joined United Taxpayers of New Jersey's (UTNJ's) campaign to resist re-imposition of "Project Labor Agreements" (PLAs), a regulatory scheme that could drive up the cost of most state and local government projects. NTU has nearly 12,000 members in the state of New Jersey.

"United Taxpayers of New Jersey deserves the highest praise for joining together with the Commerce and Industry Association, the School Boards Association, the State League of Municipalities, the Business and Industry Association, and numerous other groups to fight the spread of PLAs," said NTU Vice President for Government Affairs Al Cors, Jr. "This costly mandate would fall on the backs of taxpayers, which are already straining due to the state's fiscal mismanagement."

Gov. McGreevey's Executive Order 1 requires state and local government construction contract officials to consider Project Labor Agreements that reflect union-scale wage and benefit concessions. In addition, a bill in the State Legislature, A-1926, would change New Jersey's competitive bidding laws to further encourage PLAs. According to a New York Post investigation, this stipulation, which effectively deters officials from seeking the lowest possible labor costs on government projects, could boost the price tag for taxpayers by 20 percent in some cases.

UTNJ argues that this is an additional expense New Jerseyans can ill afford. Over the past decade, state per capita General Fund expenditures rose by $694 (after inflation and population growth). On the federal level, NTU supported President Bush's decision (later overturned by courts) to reverse policies that favored PLAs for federal projects. NTU also supports passage of legislation, the Government Neutrality in Contracting Act, that would make Bush's Executive Order part of affirmative law.

"When so many voices from so many different sectors of New Jersey's economy are speaking out against Project Labor Agreements, Governor McGreevey and the State Legislature should listen carefully," Cors concluded. "National Taxpayers Union is standing shoulder-to-shoulder with UTNJ President Sam Perelli and his fellow activists because they are standing up for Garden State taxpayers. Executive Order 1 and A-1926 should be sent to the scrap heap."

NTU is a non-profit, non-partisan organization founded in 1969 that works for lower taxes, less wasteful spending, and accountable government at all levels. UTNJ is New Jersey's largest and oldest grassroots taxpayer organization in the state. The two groups have worked together for two decades, and UTNJ's Perelli has served as an advisor to National Taxpayers Conference, a bi-annual activist training session first organized by NTU's research affiliate in 1989. Note: Further information is available online at www.ntu.org or www.utnj.org.