Republican governors and state and
local legislators in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Nevada, New York, Ohio and
Wisconsin continue to push forward legislative measures to repeal various
requirements that public construction contracts require the companies receiving
the awards to pay workers prevailing wages for their respective trades, whether
or not the employer is party to any union labor agreement. The politicians
favoring prevailing wage repeal justify their union busting measures on the
basis that taxpayers funding public projects will save money, yet these measures do not require the employers to pass savings from wage reductions along to
the government. In all likelihood, much if not all of the savings in labor cost
will fall down to the employing contractor’s profit line on the construction
draw, rather than reducing the taxpayer investment in the project.
Although couched in terms of helping
to balance government budgets, what these legislative initiatives are aimed at
is reducing the power and influence of labor unions in government work and
politics in general. Whether or not any of these new state and local measures
is enacted into law, prevailing wages will still be required by federal law on
any project assisted with so much as a single dollar of federal funding. Since
most infrastructure and educational construction at the state and local levels
receives federal funding assistance in some proportion, any cost savings will
be minimal at best. What the Republican politicians are looking for, then, is
really a chance to trumpet to their business constituents and donors that they
have achieved legislative victories over construction labor unions
