Building Trades News

Davis-Bacon Wins Out!

By Richard Slawson, Executive-Secretary

Davis-Bacon is federal legislation that requires the payment of “Prevailing Wages” to Craft Workers on federally funded construction and maintenance projects. The law was passed in 1931, by a Congress that considered the needs of the construction industry and noted that if we were maintain skilled workers we had to provide some security. It is interesting that Congressmen Bacon and Senator Davis where both Republicans when they authored the Act. Over the last 75 years anti-union contractors and other groups, like the “National Right to Work Committee” have worked 24 hours a day to scrap Davis-Bacon so that they would once again be allowed to pay starvation wages and import workers to any area of the Country who will work for anything. However, there are 303 members of Congress, including 50 Republican members, who have voted with their consciences to fully implement Prevailing wages on America’s latest water project construction legislation. The bill is HR 720, and with a majority vote of the House of Representatives on March 9th, the “Water Quality Finance Act of 2007 was passed on to the Senate where it is expected that it will pass as well. Davis-Bacon has been an accepted standard for construction workers for over 75 years, with its wage floor being different in each of the country’s 50 States. It’s still a surprise that some in Congress will still argue that Prevailing Wages are not needed in the construction industry; especially with the continued and notable evidence that without it the industry would suffer. Not only does the history of Davis-Bacon and its Prevailing Wages tell the story of the need for decent wages for workers, but at the same time, the law supports contractors’ ability to attract skilled workers to do the work. Time and again, big business, developers, contractors and bankers complain about the “shortage of skill craft workers” that they need to build infrastructure, housing and commercial enterprises. However, many of the same people continue to push to undermine decent wages, benefits and job site conditions with the result being that a career as a Construction Worker has been given a black eye. It’s as though “they want their Cake and to eat it too.” During the debate on the Water Bill in the House of Representatives, some wanted to eliminate the Davis Bacon coverage for Craft Workers. Republican Congressmen Richard Baker, Louisiana, and Steve King, Indiana, introduced an amendment to HR 720 that would have done that. Their arguments where that the work to rebuild facilities in the Hurricane ravaged States could be done more cheaply and more quickly if they lowered wages. Congressman Baker said that Congress “could have done something better coming out of committee with this bill if we would have created exemptions (from prevailing wages) for poor, disadvantaged, small communities throughout the rural United States.” But, that argument seems to be for keeping “poor, disadvantaged, small communities’” poor and disadvantaged. During the discussion, dozens of House Representatives spoke on this attempt to do away with Davis Bacon, however, Representative Steny Hoyer, Democrat from Maryland, said it best as a counter to those who wanted to lower wages. He said; “ ... I am not surprised, very frankly, I tell my friends on the other side of the aisle, that they are concerned about Davis-Bacon provision in this Bill. After all, most of those who have risen (to speak against Davis-Bacon), voted against raising the minimum wage in this Country from $5.15 to $7.25 over a 2 ½ year period. If you don’t believe in raising the minimum wage from $5.15, it is not surprising to me that you are not for paying a prevailing wage to workers on public projects. I have observed in the past, of course, how much cheaper projects would be if we didn’t pay our laborers at all, and we just forced them to work. But, hopefully we will not pursue, ever, a policy like that.” This was an interesting comparison of those who would vote against middle-class standards and those who see that decent wages not only help families, but America as well. Time and again those who oppose Davis-Bacon requirements either nationally or statewide, use cost as their excuse, even in the face of Federal Government studies that have shown that it is cheaper to build public projects in Prevailing Wages States than in non-Prevailing Wage States. We voted in November to change the Congressional leadership and this vote shows that we did the right thing. We owe our thanks to the House of Representatives and its leaders for protecting fair standards in the construction industry.

 

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