Ninth Circuit Considers Challenge to Prevailing Wage Law

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

BIANCA BRUNO
February 5, 2018

(CN) – The Ninth Circuit Monday considered arguments by nonunionized construction groups challenging a California wage law they claim prevents the open-shop industry from exercising its free speech rights.

The Associated Builders and Contractors of California Cooperation Committee and Interpipe Contracting appealed the dismissal of their case brought against Attorney General Xavier Becerra, Labor Commissioner Julie Su and Department of Industrial Relations director Christine Baker, which challenged the constitutionality of an amendment to the state wage law that went into effect in 2017.

Senate Bill 954 only allows employers who make payments to an “industry advancement fund” as required by a collective bargaining agreement to receive a prevailing wage credit through a state subsidy.

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(Order in ABC vs. Becerra)

Report: Worker-misclassification fight nets $1.4M

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By: Erika Strebel
March 16, 2018 1:25 pm

In 2017 alone, Wisconsin’s work to crack down on employers who misclassify workers as independent contractors instead of direct employees has netted nearly $1.4 million.

Because of seasonal layoffs that can muddy the distinction between permanent employees and someone hired for a specific job, worker misclassification is believed to be rampant in the construction industry.

Industry officials have said deliberate misclassification not only deprives the state of taxes and other resources but also gives dishonest companies an unfair advantage by letting them avoid costs that their more honest rivals roll into bid prices.

In 2017, the DWD continued its crackdown on misclassified workers, identifying 6,230 of them and collecting $1.4 million dollars that went back into the state’s unemployment-benefits system, according to a report released by the state Department of Workforce Development. The department also reported conducting 500 field investigations into worker misclassification.

About this same time last year, state officials had reported recovering nearly $1.13 million over the course of more than three years. The state started ramping up its enforcement of worker-misclassification laws in May 2013.

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Column: Trump expected to tout infrastructure plan this week, but funding remains murky

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By Mary Wisniewski
Jan 28, 2018

The long-promised Trump plan to rebuild the nation’s roads, bridges and other public works could finally be released in the next few weeks – the president is expected to tout his program in Tuesday’s State of the Union address, and more details may come in February.

But President Donald Trump’s plan could act like a derailed train and go nowhere fast because of funding questions. Everyone likes better roads and water systems, but many Republicans will balk if a gas tax hike is needed to pay for it, and Democrats have expressed doubts about what they see as its over-reliance on local government and private dollars.

“When they built the Hoover Dam, they didn’t say, ‘Let the states do it,’ ” said Democratic Illinois Congressman Mike Quigley in an interview. “(President Dwight D.) Eisenhower didn’t say ‘We’re going to build the interstate system and the states will pay for it.’ ”

How to fund the program is the big unanswered question, both on the local and the federal side, noted Frank Manzo, policy director for the Illinois Economic Policy Institute, a nonpartisan think tank whose members include representatives from the construction industry.

“The devil is in the details …” said Manzo in an interview. “The actual funding side is going to be very difficult and even more difficult in the wake of a tax reform plan that will result in fewer resources for government spending, let alone infrastructure projects.”

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(See Full PDF of Fact Sheet)

Hail the Prevailing Wage!

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

A prevailing wage has come under attack from advocates looking for something cheaper. And it’s shameful!

BY GARY LABARBERA
MARCH 8, 2018 1:54 PM

This is New York. We don’t do “race to the bottom” here.

We don’t invite in bottom-fishers and corner-cutters to build our buildings. And we don’t scapegoat workers.

That’s because we need the best. So we build the best.

As a Commercial Observer reader, the same goes for you, too.

You don’t “race to the bottom” when it comes to staffing up your brokerage, your development company, or your investment firm.

Yet in the world of public-sector construction, prevailing wage laws have again come under attack from advocates of bottom fishing.

But prevailing wage laws are not just good for construction workers and the agencies undertaking public projects. These laws are also good for all New Yorkers.
For more than a century, New York State has maintained an important and progressive social compact: fair wages for fair work. The pay of workers engaged in public projects must align with local prevailing wage and benefit levels. Hard-working New Yorkers thus have access to good-paying jobs and proper protection from unsafe working conditions.
And with the State’s FY 2018 capital budget exceeding $14 billion, it’s critical to shake off faulty assumptions-and recognize that prevailing wage requirements also save taxpayers money.

New data now show how these rules ensure effective cost management on public projects.

…

Gary LaBarbera is the president of the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York.

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Prevailing Wage, Local Workers Sought for Affordable Housing Projects

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Posted by Debbie L. Sklar
March 14, 2018

Builders who receive city money for affordable housing and public works projects would be required to hire skilled, local workers and pay them a prevailing wage under a proposal advanced by a City Council committee Wednesday.

Councilwoman Georgette Gomez’s “HireSD” program would aim to lift people out of poverty by requiring developers in certain projects to hire workers who have completed apprenticeships or other training because those workers are paid a higher wage. The resulting demand for skilled workers would create an incentive for economically disadvantaged people to complete that training as a “pipeline to middle-class jobs,” the councilwoman’s Chief of Staff Dominika Bukalova said.

The plan would also require developers of certain projects to hire local people and pay a prevailing wage, a minimum wage currently paid in certain public works projects.

The rules would apply to projects that receive money from the city’s affordable housing fund and a business subsidy program. Part of the proposal is an expansion of a 2013 prevailing wage ordinance that applies to public works projects.

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