For the record, let me begin by saying that The Research Bureau is not anti-union or anti-anything – We are PROWorcester.
The case for abolishing Worcester’s REO is simple and has two parts. First, by requiring that contractors on City construction projects operate apprenticeship programs for all trades that they employ and thereby excluding all nonunion contractors, the REO reduces the number of bidders on such projects and thus raises construction costs at the expense of Worcester taxpayers.