Prevailing Wage

ANNAPOLIS -- Construction unions, anxious about threats to the state's prevailing-wage law, packed a House committee room yesterday to plead for sustaining the program that sets a type of minimum wage for state building projects.The law, which many contractors claim artificially raises the state's costs by requiring the payment of union wages, is under fire from critics who see modifying or eliminating it as one way of helping Maryland get through its budget crisis.The House Economic Matters Committee waded through a series of bills yesterday aimed at -- separately -- strengthening the existing law, weakening it or simply repealing it.The law, in effect in Maryland since 1945, requires the state to survey contractors in each county to determine the "prevailing wage" being paid for each type of worker.

Former Labor Secretary Robert Reich is spot-on ("Inequality, unemployment and unresponsive government," Nov. 9). In Baltimore, 10.4 percent of people are out of work and struggling to find jobs with decent pay. Our own Sen. Barbara Mikulski has attacked a new U.S. Department of Labor rule that would raise the prevailing local wage in certain jobs in industries like seafood, landscaping, and construction. Under the existing rule, employers must offer local and migrant landscaping workers $9.12/hour.

ANNAPOLIS -- Construction unions, anxious about threats to the state's prevailing-wage law, packed a House committee room yesterday to plead for sustaining the program that sets a type of minimum wage for state building projects.The law, which many contractors claim artificially raises the state's costs by requiring the payment of union wages, is under fire from critics who see modifying or eliminating it as one way of helping Maryland get through its budget crisis.The House Economic Matters Committee waded through a series of bills yesterday aimed at -- separately -- strengthening the existing law, weakening it or simply repealing it.The law, in effect in Maryland since 1945, requires the state to survey contractors in each county to determine the "prevailing wage" being paid for each type of worker.

The Obama Labor Department has established a fair and simple requirement for issuing H-2B visas: Employers must first offer jobs to U.S. workers, at the prevailing wage in their community, before they can get permission to import foreign workers. This is good news for U.S. workers, since the H-2B visa allows about 66,000 foreign workers a year to take jobs unemployed Americans could do. It's a major improvement over the Bush-era regulation under which employers could offer substantially lower wages to U.S. workers and then recruit for guest workers outside the country.

Ending a standoff with the Glendening administration, the Washington Redskins have agreed to pay prevailing wages for state-funded highway construction near the team's new stadium in Prince George's County, state officials said yesterday.The agreement will allow the Redskins to begin work on several state road projects. The state will pay for the projects -- at a cost of $26.8 million -- but has agreed to let the Redskins manage the work in hope of speeding completion.In all, the state has agreed to contribute as much as $70.5 million toward the stadium development -- for a parking lot and other improvements at the site and for upgrades of several county roads, in addition to the improvements to state roads.

Setting up a battle with the construction industry and county governments, Gov. Parris N. Glendening proposed yesterday to extend state law to require that union-scale wages be paid on school-building projects. Following through on a 1998 campaign pledge to trade unions that endorsed his re-election, Glendening said he would seek to remove a "quirk" that exempts many school-construction projects from the state's prevailing wage law. "We believe that the men and women building our schools out there ought to be paid a wage where they can support a family," the governor said.

State officials and the Washington Redskins reached an agreement yesterday under which the football team will pay workers the prevailing wage for state-funded highway construction on county roads at the team's new stadium in Prince George's County.The Redskins and state highway officials reached an agreement last month under which the team will pay prevailing wages on several projects on state roads near the stadium site."All state and county off-site infrastructure construction will require payment of prevailing wages," said Chuck Brown, a spokesman for the Maryland Department of Transportation.

AT A TIME WHEN Gov. Parris N. Glendening is loudly proclaiming his commitment to building more schools in Maryland, he is pushing a bill that would sharply inflate the price of school construction and thus limit the number of new schools that can be built. It's an effort by the governor to assist labor unions -- in this case the building trades -- that are anxious to gain a bigger chunk of school construction work. Right now, non-union contractors do more than 80 percent of the construction -- public and private -- in Maryland.

DURING the 2000 legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly, the Glendening administration rammed through legislation that will cripple our state's public education system for years to come. The bill, signed into law last month, requires the payment of the prevailing wage on school construction projects. This construction wage is almost always the union rate - meaning higher expenses for our taxpayers. This prevailing wage law means ailing public schools in Maryland, pure and simple.

Hundreds of immigrant workers across Maryland each year come to the Latino advocacy group CASA, complaining about earned wages they say they were not paid. Hundreds of workers on state construction projects come to union officials each year, saying they aren't getting paid the prevailing wage. Yet even as immigrant and labor groups say the need for labor law enforcement remains strong, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is proposing to scrap the two units designed to enforce those laws - a move some say might be illegal, and one they vow to fight.

WASHINGTON -- Amid pressure from members of both parties, President Bush agreed yesterday to lift an order that had allowed federal contractors on Hurricane Katrina reconstruction projects to pay workers less than the locally "prevailing wage." His decision elated Democrats, labor unions and moderate House Republicans from districts where organized labor is active. The reinstatement of the wage rules will take effect Nov. 8. The prevailing wage is usually close to the wage level set in local union contracts.

The Ehrlich administration reversed course yesterday on its plan to close the state's Prevailing Wage Office after a General Assembly attorney found a 1997 law requiring the office to employ at least five inspectors. James C. "Chip" DiPaula Jr., chief of staff for Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., said yesterday that the administration had not been aware of the law, which does not appear in state code books. But he said the Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation will rearrange its budget to maintain the five inspectors.

The Ehrlich administration is shutting down the offices that enforce minimum wage and prevailing wage laws, ignoring legislation passed by the General Assembly this year directing the governor to keep them open. Legislative leaders and union officials called the Ehrlich administration's move a backdoor attempt to repeal the prevailing wage statute and a violation of the governor's duty to follow and enforce laws passed by the Assembly. "It's outrageous. It's an insult. It's a slap in the face to every working man and woman in Maryland," said Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller, a Democrat.

Hundreds of labor and Latino activists converged on the State House last night despite the inclement weather to demonstrate for greater workers' rights, including better enforcement of state wage laws. Organizers had expected a turnout of 1,800 workers from all corners of the state, but snow and rain caused some groups to cancel. Still, a diverse crowd of several hundred gathered to shout slogans in Spanish and English, criticizing Gov. Robert J. Ehrlich Jr. for a budget that would eliminate the state units that handle unpaid-wage complaints and uphold prevailing wage laws for state-funded public works projects.

Hundreds of immigrant workers across Maryland each year come to the Latino advocacy group CASA, complaining about earned wages they say they were not paid. Hundreds of workers on state construction projects come to union officials each year, saying they aren't getting paid the prevailing wage. Yet even as immigrant and labor groups say the need for labor law enforcement remains strong, Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. is proposing to scrap the two units designed to enforce those laws - a move some say might be illegal, and one they vow to fight.

DURING the 2000 legislative session of the Maryland General Assembly, the Glendening administration rammed through legislation that will cripple our state's public education system for years to come. The bill, signed into law last month, requires the payment of the prevailing wage on school construction projects. This construction wage is almost always the union rate - meaning higher expenses for our taxpayers. This prevailing wage law means ailing public schools in Maryland, pure and simple.

Mayor Kurt L. Schmoke has formed a special team to investigate the employment of illegal aliens at construction projects in the city.Schmoke yesterday said he had formed the team in response to complaints from local trade unions. The unions are concerned because some contractors employ undocumented workers and pay them wages that violate local, state, and federal prevailing wage laws.The team is to investigate construction projects that receive city funds and those that have lease agreements or other contractual arrangements with the city.

A Glendening administration bill aimed at improving wages for school construction workers passed the House of Delegates yesterday to the cheers of union officials and now heads to the governor for his signature. The union-backed legislation was a key element of Gov. Parris N. Glendening's legislative agenda and a prime target of Republican critics who accused Glendening of repaying a campaign debt to organized labor. "Hallelujah," said Jerry Lozupone, a union representative, moments after he was escorted out of the House gallery for applauding the chamber's 92-44 vote for the bill.

Legislation pushed by Gov. Parris N. Glendening to expand the state's pro-labor prevailing wage law survived key test votes in the Maryland Senate yesterday and appears headed for approval by the General Assembly. The bill is expected to clear the Senate as early as tomorrow. Opponents and supporters predict the House will embrace it as well, despite strong opposition from most Republicans and conservative Democrats. "It's on the fast track," said Del. Michael R. Gordon, a Montgomery County Democrat, vice chairman of the House committee that will consider the measure.