As the Silver Line Turns: Union Bust Gives Project a Boost (Maybe)

Now that the airports authority has decided to drop the much-reviled labor agreement from Phase 2 of the Metro Silver Line project, all's right in the world, and we can just count the days until we can hop on a train at Wiehle and be whisked off to the fertile particleboard fields of Ashburn to... uh... we dunno, shop for $14 chicken cutlets at Wegman's, right?

Let's hope so. But the move was seen largely as appeasing Gov. McDonnell, who has flip-flopped on the state's $150 million share of the project, and as reactions to the decision came in, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, who will make a decision about supporting the project by early last month, were notably absent. Guess they're awaiting further orders from their corporate overlords Tea Party backers constituents.

Still, Loudoun’s supervisors have not given clear indications of whether they will vote to support the second phase of the project and to put in the county’s share of construction costs, which, according to the latest estimate, are expected to total about $270 million. The board is expected to take a vote July 3.

Loudoun Supervisor Matthew F. Letourneau (R-Dulles) said the MWAA’s vote was welcome news — but by no means a guarantee of Loudoun’s support.

“The PLA was a barrier to entry to even have a discussion,” he said. “The way I would characterize it is that the chances now go from zero percent to fifty-fifty.”

We're sure Letourneau's constituents are relieved that union thugs will no longer threaten to hold up the line in Wegman's as they buy their "cold cuts," or whatever it is union thugs eat for lunch. Actually, given that one of them showed up at a hearing wearing a Viking helmet, maybe they are.

Bob Costantino approached the microphone wearing a Viking helmet and said, that during their time, Vikings were known for pillage, plunder, and thievery.

“It’s my contention that Metro Silver Line Phase Two, in the context of Loudoun County, is virtual railway robbery,” Costantino said.

Speaking of plunder, between this decision and all the fun in Wisconsin, this hasn't been a good week for labor unions. Of course, the same cabal of billionaires was heavily involved in both decisions, including a fun robo-calling project targeted at the minivan moms of Loudoun County.

Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group that was founded with support from David and Charles Koch, and advocates for lower taxes and smaller government, are encouraging residents in robocalls to tell their supervisors they don’t want a tax increase to pay for Metro’s extension.

“Loudoun cannot afford this bail-out to rail-station developers,’’ according to the script. “If the Loudoun County board opts out, the rail will still be built to Dulles Airport, and commuters will still be within five miles of Metro. Come tell the board of supervisors to opt out and save taxpayers billions of dollars.”

Fortunately, as salaried, skilled, white-collar wage slaves "information workers," we don't have to worry about such petty things as "labor unions" and "living wages." They're relics of an industrial era, or at least for people who aren't lucky enough to live in the DC area, where the high-paying jobs will constantly flow, and we have far more in common with the right-thinking billionaires attempting to destroy the middle class create jobs. Wait, what's that?

Exxon Mobil is relocating its Fairfax County operations to Houston beginning in early 2014, taking 2,100 jobs out of a region already experiencing a slowdown in hiring as employers brace for cuts in federal spending.

The loss of private-sector jobs — many of them high-paying, white-collar positions — comes as Lockheed Martin and other defense and government contractors are eliminating headquarters positions in anticipation of Pentagon budget cuts.

In recent years, Fairfax County has been especially aggressive in its push to attract major corporations, but even the 1,200 jobs created by familiar nameplates such as Volkswagen, Hilton and Northrop Grumman are not enough to offset the latest loss.

Huh.