Page wants prevailing wage for county projects (MO)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

October 2, 2019 1:27 pm

St. Louis County Executive Sam Page announced last week that he will request that the County Council enact an ordinance requiring contractors to pay a prevailing wage on projects where St. Louis County extends tax incentives.

Page said he planned to request the ordinance last Friday, when the council agenda is released.

Prevailing wage refers to the rate of pay contractors must offer employees when doing business with a public agency. Prevailing wages are established by Missouri’s Department of Labor and Industrial Relations for each trade and occupation.

“In St. Louis County, our work force deserves to earn competitive wages for their work,” Page said in a news release. “Requiring contractors to pay a prevailing wage will prevent companies from low-balling proposals at the expense of their workers.”

Although prevailing wage requirements may increase the hourly labor cost of a project, such requirements may actually help keep the total project cost down by promoting better training, work efficiency and productivity and retention of highly skilled workers, according to the release.

Page also contended that prevailing wage policies help boost the local economy by promoting the use of local contractors and residents for projects, which promotes more money earned and spent in the local economy.

“These prevailing wage requirements, coupled with the county’s minority- and women-owned business enterprises policies, will help promote economic development and protect the interests of working families in St. Louis County,” said Page in the release.

(See Article)

Parr: Prevailing wage bill will stop money from leaving New York (NY)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Ron Parr
April 15, 2019

New York faces a statewide problem related to public works. Despite what some may say, if this issue is left unresolved it could have disastrous implications for business, hurting both contractors and workers in New York State.

The lack of a clear definition of public works has created a loophole that can be exploited by bad actors to take millions in public subsidies, turn around and hire out of state contractors and pay workers poverty-level wages. The consequences for New York are vast. Tax dollars meant to invest in local companies and spur economic development are funneling into the back pockets of unscrupulous developers and millions in foregone tax revenue continues to accrue.

Legislation in both houses of the state Legislature in Albany would provide the statewide solution New York needs – from Western New York to New York City, from the North Country to Long Island.

Opponents claim public works legislation would increase the cost of construction and impede economic growth, but when you look at the numbers, this is far off the mark. Far from slowing economic growth, public works legislation would significantly boost the economy both upstate and down, first and foremost: through tax revenue.

Mandating wage standards and taxpayer benefits on projects that received public funding would produce an additional $3.5-6.9 million annual sales tax revenue. At present, local contractors lose out in the bidding process to out-of-state contractors that pay poverty-level wages to gain a competitive advantage. Leveling the playing field so that in-state contractors can compete would ensure these tax dollars stay in New York.

Additionally, the payment of prevailing wages often encourages a more skilled, localized workforce. Skilled workers minimize costs by increasing efficiency and decreasing the amount of time needed to complete a project. A clear definition of public works has the potential to actually reduce overall project costs.

Furthermore, public works legislation would strengthen industries outside of construction including insurance, financial services, health care and the restaurant industry, the combination of which would add billions in revenue and produce thousands of jobs.

(Read More)

Illinois lawmakers again vote to criminalize local right-to-work measures (IL)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

POSTED 12:27 PM, MARCH 14, 2019
BY WQAD DIGITAL TEAM

SPRINGFIELD (Illinois News Network) – Illinois lawmakers have resurrected and are moving ahead with legislation that would make creating local right-to-work zones at the municipal level a criminal offense.

While reporters in the Capitol building were peppering Gov. J.B. Pritzker with questions about his newly-unveiled progressive tax rates, state Senators voted to send a measure to the House that would make it illegal for local governments to create right-to-work zones in their jurisdictions. Such zones allow employees to refuse union membership and still be employed.

Sponsor Ram Villivalam, D-Chicago, said the bill will support economic development, protect the quality of essential services and confirm a commitment to a highly-trained workforce.

“Local right-to-work zones have no place in the state of Illinois,” he said. “The regulation of collective bargaining should be the responsibility of state government.”

Some Republicans objected to the bill. They said the state shouldn’t take away local control.

“We ought to allow communities to make their own decision,” said state Sen. Jim Oberweis, R-Sugar Grove.

The bill, which is similar to one Gov. Bruce Rauner vetoed in 2017, says any local official who supports a right-to-work zone will be charged with a Class A misdemeanor. That carries a sentence of up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.

The bill passed with bipartisan support and now sits in the House to be heard.

It would only affect private-sector workers because a U.S. Supreme Court decision last summer prohibited public workers from being required to pay into a union as a condition of employment.

(See Article)

Gov. Wolf signs executive order to create Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center (PA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

BY KEVIN RANDOLPH  |   FEBRUARY 21, 2019

Gov. Tom Wolf signed Tuesday an executive order to create the Keystone Economic Development and Workforce Command Center, which will work to expand collaboration between government and the private sector to address the skills gap and worker shortages.

“Our economy is transitioning and it’s a race to keep up,” Wolf said. “We either strengthen workforce development or we risk falling behind. We must be bold and ambitious and break from the status quo.”

The command center will make recommendations to improve coordination of workforce and economic development programs across state agencies and identify barriers that may prevent people from working or prevent businesses from hiring skilled workers.

The command center will also review the recommendations of the Auditor General and implement those it believes will deliver the best results. It will also monitor implementation and progress of the workforce and education proposals outlined in the governor’s Statewide Workforce, Education and Accountability Program (SWEAP) proposal.

Wolf appointed three leaders from the private sector and three cabinet secretaries to lead the command center. They include Gene Barr, president and CEO of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry; Tony Bartolomeo, co-chair of Team Pennsylvania; Rick Bloomingdale, president of the AFL-CIO; Acting Secretary Kathy Boockvar, Department of State; Secretary Dennis Davin, Department of Community and Economic Development; and Secretary Jerry Oleksiak, Department of Labor & Industry.

(Read More)

ILR Impact Brief – New York State Prevailing Wage Law: Defining Public Work

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Publication Date 3-8-2018
Fred B. Kotler, Cornell University ILR School

Abstract

New York’s prevailing wage standards require that contractors on state funded construction projects pay their workers no less than wage and benefit levels “prevailing” within the local construction market.

Much has changed since the prevailing wage was enacted by statute in 1897 and written into New York’s Constitution in 1938. “Public works” projects then typically meant construction of public facilities, funded by public money, for public use. Today public resources are leveraged creatively to attract private capital for economic development.

The commingling of the various forms of public support with private funding has blurred the definition or boundaries of “public work.”

Sixteen other states have statutes that more broadly apply the standards to include loans, tax incentives, and other forms of public support to private projects. New York is among ten other states that enable private developers to accept public money without paying prevailing wages and benefits.

This report examines the taxpayer interest in redefining “public work” to include both traditionally funded public works projects and private, economic development projects funded at least in part by public assets.

(Read More)

(Full PDF of Study)

Linking Public Works to Local Hiring Faces a Trump Challenge

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By PATRICIA COHEN
AUG. 3, 2017

…

Over the last decade, more and more cities, on the coasts and in the heartland, have tried to leverage their buying power to fuel economic development through local hiring provisions on public projects that favor veterans, residents and low-income workers. But these efforts have been bedeviled by political, economic and legal challenges that have divided business, union and political allies.

Now the Trump administration may rescind an Obama-era initiative that allows hiring preferences on transportation and construction projects in states like New York, California, Texas, Virginia and Illinois, a prospect that has alarmed advocates of such programs.

“Why not let cities and states innovate to create the good American jobs that the administration has been clamoring for?” said Madeline Janis, the executive director of Jobs to Move America, a coalition of faith, labor and other groups that want transportation funding to benefit local communities. “I don’t understand why they would want to cancel the program.”

Legal and regulatory hurdles have long frustrated officials trying to create job opportunities that favor local residents. The Supreme Court has ruled it is unconstitutional for employers in one state to discriminate against residents of another. Federal agencies, through Republican and Democratic administrations, have maintained that restrictions like competitive bidding prevent them from contributing a cent to public projects with hiring preferences. And state lawmakers, complaining that employers and workers outside the target city are at a disadvantage, have outlawed such preferences.

Jobs to Move America was one of several groups that spent years working with transportation officials in the Obama administration on a pilot project to test whether local hiring preferences reduced competition or drove up prices. In January, days before President Trump was sworn in, the Transportation Department extended the experiment, taking place in more than a dozen cities, for five years so that research could be completed.

(Read More)