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Letter to the editor: Prevailing wage benefits economy (PA)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, 9:04 p.m.

Regarding Ray Borkoski’s letter ( “End prevailing wage in Pa.,” July 25, TribLIVE): The benefit prevailing wage provides to the local economy is immeasurable. Prevailing wage ensures tax money is used solely to benefit the public and the taxpayer by requiring the hiring of local, skilled workers, which stimulates all aspects of the local economy. When local people are working they spend money on homes, cars, food, clothes, etc.

Without prevailing wage, we would see an increase in contractors misclassifying workers, paying cash and avoiding paying payroll taxes. This leads to a loss in state revenue in the hundreds of millions.

States with weak or no prevailing wage laws spend $367 million more a year on food stamps and earned income tax credits for blue-collar construction workers than states with prevailing wage laws.

Without prevailing wage, you also lose safety standards and responsible contractors. What is the advantage of building a bridge “cheaper”?

Prevailing wage is not a union or nonunion issue; without prevailing wage, all wages fall. The standard of prevailing wage is set by a survey of the entire construction market in a local area.

The Midwest Economic Policy Institute found that after the repeal of prevailing wage in Indiana, the lowest paid construction workers’ wages fell 15.1 percent.

Mike Bobnar
Hempfield

(See Op-Ed)

Op-Ed If residential builders pay prevailing wages it would help – not hurt – California’s housing crisis

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By Alex Lantsberg
May 19, 2017, 4:00 AM

California has a housing crisis. Supply has not kept pace with demand. Rents and home prices are soaring and many working families are being priced out of the market altogether.

The state Legislature is considering myriad ideas for reform. One that has generated a lot of push-back from the building industry is incorporating prevailing wage standards into more residential projects.

“Prevailing wage” refers to what’s generally paid to skilled craft workers in different regions. Based on local employer surveys, it includes hourly pay, benefits and training costs for dozens of different construction occupations. It sometimes, but not always, reflects union rates. Typically required on publicly funded construction projects, prevailing wages encourage contractors to compete based on workers’ skill, experience and productivity, as well as on innovative project management – not merely on who can pay their workers the least. Decades of peer-reviewed research have linked prevailing wages with higher-quality craftsmanship, more local hiring and lower poverty rates among construction workers.

Peer-reviewed research has linked prevailing wages with higher-quality craftsmanship, more local hiring and lower poverty rates among construction workers.
Some builders and developers falsely claim that paying prevailing wages would lead to higher housing prices and make the state’s affordability crisis worse. They’re wrong; they want to maintain a status quo that allows them to line their pockets at the expense of workers and taxpayers.

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