Yesterday, Senate candidate George Allen solidified his attacks on middle-class families, releasing his “Freedom To Work For Less” agenda that would roll back protections for workers. While targeting struggling workers, the Allen campaign did not release any plans to hold accountable the CEOs and big banks responsible for tanking our economy. (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Washington Post, The Roanoke Times)  Even Ronald Reagan, the man who inspired Allen to enter politics, believed that it is important for the wealthy to pay their fair share – while Allen would keep the burden on working Virginians. 

Anyone who wants to represent Virginians should be standing up for the middle-class, not collaborating with the top 1% to make things even worse. Working Virginians join unions so they’re not on their own when the time comes to negotiate for the fair pay and decent benefits they need to take care of their families. George Allen doesn’t get it: while working folks across the country are banding together to protest Wall Street robber barons who got us into this mess, he’s still standing with his corporate campaign donors over working Virginians. Allen’s “Freedom To Work For Less” proposals would only continue to line the pockets of corporate CEOs while costing government money and making Virginia’s workers less safe and secure.

Allen is wrong on Project Labor Agreements: Project Labor Agreements are simply good business. PLAs are market-based tools that set the rules and expectations for management and workers and as a result, projects with PLAs come in on-time and on-budget. In fact, studies show that George Allen’s claims that PLAs drive up costs are simply untrue. 

Phase 1 of the Dulles Rail project utilized a PLA. The project is ahead of schedule, under budget, and has the best safety record of any construction project in Virginia. The new Springfield interchange (I-95 & I-495) is being constructed without a PLA. That project is “three times over budget, way behind schedule”, and there have been 4 fatalities on the job. (Source: Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO)