Wednesday, February 25, 2015

After RTW passes, GOP to further cut construction wages statewide

The will do this by repealing an existing law that says publicly-funded projects, like state construction, shall pay workers the prevailing wage for those jobs, thus spreading the benefits of the public spending and making sure cheap, out-of-state labor is not brought in.

As I noted the other day, Republicans will push through the repeal of the prevailing wage law, thus making sure many of the best blue-collar jobs in Wisconsin are moved into lower-earning categories:
Walker says he'll sign [right-to-work legislation]. Oh, surprise. And now Robin Vos weighs in supporting the Senate bill. What a farce. 
Walker objects to 'right-to-work' legislation?  It's a "distraction" for him? Really?
Stop insulting us. 
Madison — Republican leaders are fast-tracking so-called right-to-work legislation with a special session, ignoring objections from Gov. Scott Walker and giving the clearest sign yet of how his influence has weakened in Wisconsin as he pursues the presidency outside the state.
The Legislature is doing his bidding. He controls the Capitol and his party. He told his biggest donor four years ago he had a plan to do it. It's step two of a two-step plan and he's being two-faced about it now.
Walker objects to 'right-to-work' the way Putin objects to 'rebel' incursions into Ukraine.
First came Act 10. Private unions, later. "Divide-And-Conquer." His words. Watch the video.
Will he sign the bill. Of course. Eagerly. It's his final, middle-finger payoff to corporate donors and payback to public-sector unions and their allies on the Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors or who marched around the Capitol and recalled him in 2012...
Let's get real: First there was Act 10, his dropped bomb. Then - - this year's version - - a fresh, further hit to public employee faculty and staff at the UW. 
Now right-to-work, depressing private-sector blue-collar wages...
And in the wings, repeal of the prevailing wage law, so wages paid to worker on state roads and buildings are further controlled and suppressed, too.
Also - - cue the torrent of buzzwords, Sycophantic talk shows and conservative op-eds sprouting across the media about streamlined legislation. Competition with other backward states. Flexibility for employers. Options for workers. 
Construction unions which stood with Walker through the 2012 recall election- - welcome to the Club of the Disrespected in Walker's world.


4 comments:

  1. I'm glad the construction industry is getting the shaft.

    they deserve it supporting walker.

    police will be next.

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  2. The repeal of prevailing wage is potentially more disastrous to the construction unions than Right to Work. Without prevailing wage laws the bidding of construction projects is simply a race to the absolute bottom, and the absolute bottom is pretty low in construction. Since government projects are held to a "lowest responsible bidder" requirement, and since "responsible bidder" is only vaguely defined, the pressure for lower and lower wages will end up destroying organized labor in the construction trades. The end result is what I saw personally in North Carolina, where a dormitory construction project on the campus of NC State University was being handled by a nearly all immigrant group of carpenters, iron workers, cement masons, and laborers. So even in a state with considerable anti-immigrant fervor, such a condition holds, imagine what is in store for Wisconsin?

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  3. How does any of that give Wisconsin's economy a boost?

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    Replies
    1. And how do the lower wages solve our exploding budget deficit, which is being caused by low income and corporate tax revenues?

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