What is this prevailing wage shit all about?

[Melodybe]

Bush is cutting the prevailing wage for workers rebuilding NO.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/08/news/economy/katrina_wages.reut/

[U4ikLefty]

1. Less $$$ spent on labor means more profit for Halliburton.

n/t

[sam sarrha]

2. is that where if there are Union workers ..all the nonUnion get paid Union

i am not sure

[Niche]

3. ummm... NO. THEY GET PAID LESS

[Sapphire Blue]

7. Essentially, yes... Under the Davis-Bacon Act contractors pay journey...

... level wages at the highest rate - state or fed.

The Davis-Bacon wage determinations by state: http://www.gpo.gov/davisbacon/allstates.html


DAVIS-BACON WAGE DETERMINATION
REFERENCE MATERIAL

INTRODUCTION

THE DAVIS-BACON AND RELATED ACTS (DBRA)


The Davis-Bacon Act as amended, requires that each contract over $2,000 to which the United States or the District of Columbia is a party for the construction, alteration, or repair of public buildings or public works shall contain a clause setting forth the minimum wages to be paid to various classes of laborers and mechanics employed under the contract. Under the provisions of the Act, contractors or their subcontractors are to pay workers employed directly upon the site of the work no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits paid on projects of a similar character. The Davis-Bacon Act directs the Secretary of Labor to determine such local prevailing wage rates.

In addition to the Davis-Bacon Act itself, Congress has added prevailing wage provisions to approximately 60 statutes which assist construction projects through grants, loans, loan guarantees, and insurance. These "related Acts" involve construction in such areas as transportation, housing, air and water pollution reduction, and health. If a construction project is funded or assisted under more than one Federal statute, the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions may apply to the project if any of the applicable statutes require payment of Davis-Bacon wage rates.

The geographic scope of the Davis-Bacon Act is limited, by its terms, to the 50 States and the District of Columbia. By the same token, the scope of each of the related Acts is determined by the terms of the particular statute under which the Federal assistance is provided. For example, Davis-Bacon prevailing wage provisions would apply to a construction contract located in Guam or the Virgin Islands funded under the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974, even though the Davis-Bacon Act itself does not apply to Federal construction contracts to be performed outside the 50 States and the District of Columbia.

Continued @ http://www.gpo.gov/davisbacon/referencemat.html

Edited to add:

With the suspension of prevailing wage, contractors will be able to pay lower wages than standard on a contract... presumably as low as minimum wage... and probably no benefit compensation.

[cornermouse]

4. Its not enough any more to be given a no-compete contract.

They wanted to cut the pay that they would be handing out, so they did.

Do you ever get the feeling that there isn't enough money in the world to satisfy their greed?

[Twist_U_Up]

5. Hes fucking SCUM

Union IronWorker here

Halliburton will reap billions on this blatant disregard for families trying to recover from Katrina.

What will happen is people will earn anywhere from min wage to oh say $7 to $10 measly dollars an hour.

with the AFL -CIO backing alot of re punks with OUR political dollars , UNITE just getting a foothold but not even close to being prepared to attack something like this is a very scary time for us Union folks.

Now Is the time for every blue collar worker to join hands and get this decision reversed,somehow someway...

WE NEED A LEADER and WE NEED SOME PRESS GOD DAMN IT

[Daphne08]

6. Some questions need to be asked since

this seems quite unfair and very unAmerican... compared to the high wages being paid to the military contractors who are working in Iraq.

[bklyncowgirl]

8. Has anyone from the administration offered an explanation?

In the absense of any explanation I'll just have to go with the notion that this streamlines the flow of cash from the taxpayers to contractors pockets.

[ModerateLee]

9. I don't understand...

Do they mean cutting the 'average' wage in the area or do they mean cutting the official minimum wage that's set as law all over the USA and must be paid? What is this 'prevailing' wage? I've never heard of that one!

[Atman]

10. All BushCo's early "assistance" involved suspending regs on corps

Period. Really. The first two things; suspend the DOT placing limits on the hours truckers can spend behind the wheel, and the logging of said hours. Supposedly, this would allow truckers to get those invisible pallets of water to NO faster.

Refineries had burdensome clean air standards lifted, presumably so that they could crank up the gas output without them. I dunno. Now this. No water of food for the homeless victims of Katrina, but truckloads of perks and tax breaks for Bush's cronies.

Fucking disgusting.