Column: Wage theft is prevalent, cheats workers in Ohio (OH)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

January 31, 2020

Too many bosses in the Columbus area and throughout Ohio are finding ways to cheat their hard-working employees. It’s called wage theft. These unethical employers steal money from workers and make it harder for law-abiding employers to compete.

Here are some of their methods: paying less than the minimum wage; not paying overtime; violating prevailing wage laws on public construction projects; confiscating tips from restaurant wait staff; misclassifying regular employees as self-employed independent contractors; forcing employees to work off-the-clock before and after their regular shifts; and denying workers legal meal breaks. The list of unscrupulous practices is almost endless. …

Mayor Andrew J. Ginther and the Columbus City Council have recognized the problem here. They are considering legislation aimed at curbing wage theft by any developer who receives a tax abatement or other tax incentive. If enacted, this legislation would be a good first step in combating abuses. Four years ago, Cincinnati enacted a similar ordinance. Franklin County suburbs should follow suit.

Central Ohio’s overall economy is healthy and growing. However, not everyone is benefiting. Too many folks are being left behind, forced to work two or three jobs to make ends meet. Dishonest wage-theft violators know this. They prey on the most vulnerable of our fellow citizens.

These crooked employers should be held accountable. Our elected officials and business leaders should tell repeat offenders either comply with the law or get out of central Ohio. We don’t need you and your abusive practices.

Mark Fluharty is executive director of the Central Ohio Labor Council of the AFL-CIO.

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Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak signs bill restoring prevailing wages (NV)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

May 28, 2019
Geoff Dornan

Gov. Steve Sisolak on Tuesday signed legislation repealing changes made by the Republican dominated 2015 Legislature that weakened Nevada’s prevailing wage laws.

The GOP raised the threshold for projects to require contractors pay prevailing wage from $100,000 to $250,000. They also directed the Labor Commissioner to set prevailing wages for public school and higher education construction projects at 90 percent of what would be required for other public works projects.

AB136 repeals both of those changes, restoring the law to what it was before 2015.
In addition, he signed SB231 which repealed language basically prohibiting contractors and subcontractors from entering into or adhering to any agreement with labor organizations when working on public projects. SB231 eliminates language that strongly discouraged public bodies from hiring contractors who have agreements with unions and prohibits public bodies from awarding grants, tax abatements credits or exemptions to contractors that enter agreements with labor organizations.

Sisolak said he was keeping his campaign promise to “return prevailing wage to public construction projects.”

He said that will help guarantee public construction projects are built by highly qualified workers and increase competition among those contractors.

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Providing A ‘Level Playing Field’ For Workers, Public Bodies, Business Owners & Taxpayers To Ensure ‘All’ Benefit

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Published Wednesday, October 31, 2018
by WNYLaborToday.com Editor-Publisher Tom Campbell

(HAMBURG, NEW YORK) – Fear – in a word, according to representatives of the non-profit New York Foundation For Fair Contracting, is holding back many Non-Union Construction Workers from reporting wage theft or unsafe working conditions.
That’s because they don’t know where to go for help when it comes to being cheated out of their wages and their fringe benefits.

And just how would they ever make the right authorities aware of what’s happened to them without facing repercussions from their employer or being fired from their jobs?

And it’s not just Construction Workers. Its contractors looking for a fair shot at obtaining public construction work, while at the same time battling unscrupulous contractors that receive low responsible bidder status on a project.

And its public bodies that want to award contracts to responsible contractors who qualify as the low bidder.

After all, in the end, it’s the taxpayer who foots the bill when it’s found a debarred contractor that’s been restricted from bidding for public works jobs does indeed get the job.

But here in New York State, there’s an entity that’s currently working to level the playing field by supporting fair contracting across the State – the New York Foundation For Fair Contracting, a non-profit Labor-Management Organization that monitors Prevailing Wage public project work and the competitive bidding process in Western, Central and Northern New York, including those that fall under New York State Labor Law § 220 (covering public work) and Federally-funded Davis-Bacon (Prevailing Wage) work.

Under the State Freedom of Information Law and the Federal Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), the NYFFC – which is not a private investigative service – reviews bid documents, contracts and certified payroll records to ensure contracting companies are following the laws and regulations that govern the industry.

The NYFFC’s compliance and monitoring work is done for the benefit of public bodies, as well as the taxpaying public. And its investigations serve to curb the corrupt act of underbidding and disenfranchising, not only for the individual Workers on a project, but also for taxpayers who expect a timely, safe and high quality end result.

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Prevailing wage a better value

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Henry Yanez
Published 11:00 p.m. ET Feb. 12, 2018

This year, special interests collected signatures to put the question of repealing Michigan’s long-standing prevailing wage law before the Legislature or on the ballot – often misconstruing the true intent of what their petition would do. They tell you it’s about saving you money. Nothing could be further from the truth. Let me tell you what prevailing wage is.

Michigan’s prevailing wage law ensures that our publicly financed buildings, roads, bridges and utilities are constructed using highly skilled and trained workers who are paid the regional average for their trade. The law doesn’t artificially inflate wages or the cost of construction and doesn’t force workers to be union members.

It just ensures that the people building our infrastructure earn a fair wage and benefits, and that their pay reflects their level of training. The law keeps skilled tradespeople and their families here in Michigan, where they spend money, grow the local economy and pay taxes.

Lowering wages reduces job productivity and lengthens the project schedule. Mistakes also happen when inexperienced, lesser-trained workers do the work. Michigan has already experimented with repealing prevailing wage in the mid-1990s. Costs went up and our skilled workforce went down. A study of highway and bridge work in 10 states found that high-wage workers built 74.4 more miles of roadbed and 32.8 more miles of bridges for $557 million less, compared to low-wage workers. Better and more efficient work for less money isn’t a difficult idea to get behind. …

Rep. Henry Yanez, D-Sterling Heights, represents Michigan’s 25th House district.

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LCA contractors fined $2.9M over Detroit hires (MI)

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Louis Aguilar, The Detroit News
Published 11:38 p.m. ET Aug. 23, 2017
Updated 8:29 a.m. ET Aug. 24, 2017

Dozens of the contractors building Little Caesars Arena have been fined a total of $2.9 million as of March for frequently not hiring at least 51 percent of Detroiters at the ongoing construction site, according to the latest data collected by the city.

And that total is expected to be even higher during the push to complete construction of the $862.9 million sports and entertainment complex by early September, based on the monthly data compiled by the city agency monitoring the workforce agreements on construction sites, said Portia Roberson, director of the city’s Office of Human Rights.

An average of 27 percent of total hours worked at the arena site were performed by Detroit residents from April 2015 to March 2017, the latest monthly data available. It’s been two years, August 2015, since at least 51 percent of hours worked at the site was done by Detroit residents, data shows. The percentage of hours worked is the measure the city uses to determine how many residents the individual contractors have working at the site.

In March alone, the city cited 53 of the contractors with fines ranging from $137,613 to a unit of Motor City Electric to 26 cents to John Papalas & Co. Motor City Electric is a large electrical contractor and the Papalas firm specializes in industrial painting and sheeting services. The other 32 contracting units on site were not fined, according to city records. Several large contractors, it should be noted, have multiple units working at the site.

Currently, crews are working three shifts each week day and Saturdays, with more than 1,100 workers on the site on weekdays, said a spokesman for Olympia Development of Michigan, the firm overseeing the construction.

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McHenry County Board approves prevailing wage, ending three years of protest votes

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

By KEVIN P. CRAVER
June 26, 2017

WOODSTOCK – The McHenry County Board approved the state prevailing wage rates, ending a three-year streak of casting a symbolic protest vote against them.

Board members voted, 19-3, to adopt the wage schedule, which requires local governments to pay workers hired for public construction projects a specific wage set by the Illinois Department of Labor.

Audience members, many of whom were union members and local residents who came to encourage a vote to approve, applauded when the final vote was tallied.

The County Board since 2014 had voted against prevailing wage, while being careful to instruct county staff to follow the law.

Board member Donna Kurtz, R-Crystal Lake, said voting against prevailing wage sends a negative message to the community, and disputed the notion that the wages are responsible for the county’s sky-high property taxes.

“I think in the end, the overall benefits well outweigh the negatives that some may perceive regarding prevailing wage. It’s the right thing to do – we know it’s the law. It’s the right thing to do,” Kurtz said.

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Prevailing wage repeal: Hurting blue-collar wages or saving tax dollars?

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

MARK SOMMERHAUSER
Apr 25, 2017

Critics of a proposal to fully repeal the state’s prevailing wage laws decried it Monday as an assault on the wages of blue-collar workers, while proponents framed the move as frugal stewardship of public funds.

A state Senate panel gave the proposal its first legislative hearing Monday.

If enacted, it would mark another crushing defeat for Wisconsin labor unions. They, along with legislative Democrats, are among the staunchest backers of a prevailing wage, a minimum wage requirement for workers on public construction projects.

The bill would eliminate all state-imposed prevailing wage requirements for projects funded by the state. That includes state office buildings, University of Wisconsin System buildings and state highway projects.

…

Two who testified against the bill were Leroy Miller, a heavy equipment operator from New Berlin, and Luke Burnaman, a crane operator from Portage. Both are union members and U.S. military veterans.

Both men said they’re concerned about how prevailing wage repeal could affect veterans, who they and others who spoke Monday said are disproportionately represented in the building trades.

Burnaman said he and his family moved to Wisconsin from his native Louisiana last year, lured by the prospect of higher wages and better schools for his children.

He questioned why senators would mull prevailing wage changes after recently having increased their own expense reimbursements. State Senate leaders earlier this year approved a 31 percent increase in their daily per diem amount – up to $115 per day, compared to $88 per day last year, the Appleton Post-Crescent reported.

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What good is affordable housing if the people who build aren’t paid decently?

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

July 27, 2016
Kevin Duncan, Pueblo, Colo.
The writer is a professor of economics at Colorado State University-Pueblo.

To the editor: Like climate change, construction prevailing wage standards have been studied and an academic consensus exists, but myths persist. (“Affordable housing at an impasse,” editorial, July 22)

Peer-reviewed economists have found that prevailing wages produce more local, middle-class job opportunities and less spending on fuels, materials and public assistance for blue-collar construction workers. They do not significantly raise total development budgets.

In California, labor makes up just 20% of total construction project costs. Any savings from exploitative working conditions are offset by lower productivity on the job site.

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Prevailing Wage States Have Fewer Job Separations in Construction

Posted by National Alliance for Fair Contracting on

Feb 29
Posted by Frank Manzo IV

Labor economists have explained that lower job turnover is one of the reasons why raising the minimum wage has very little impact on employment, contrary to classical economic theory. … They found that separations, new hires, and turnover rates declined significantly after a minimum wage hike.

Prevailing wage is essentially a minimum wage for public construction. Prevailing wages reflect local labor standards and require that contractors pay workers at least the rate established in the private marketplace through competitive practices. …

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