Question:
Could somebody who knows please tell me how the four new Executive Orders by
the shrub in chief are going to impact on me and my family?
I am worried that the union construction jobs on federal Projects in Minnesota
will go non-union such as the airport projects and veterans home projects.
Answer:
I haven't had as much time as I would have liked. I am also a
union member, Road Sprinklerfitters U.A. Local 669. From what I do
understand, Bush is working to eliminate prevailing wage and project labor
agreements, saying that they unnecessarily raise the cost of federal
projects. Prevailing wage was created to prevent government contractors from
underpaying their employees, due to the fact the government takes the lowest
bid. It was legislated to ensure that contractors didn't get the bid by
using underpaid, undereducated workers.prevailing wage is the average pay
for workers in a specific industry. they take the average rate of journeymen
in say, Houston, which is $19.32. my unions wage is$ 21.82, so they don't
even compete with our wage prevailing wage in no way ensures that a union
contractor will get the job, except for the fact that they already pay their
employees better than the prevailing wage. it does help unions organize, by
letting non union see the training and compensation we receive.
project labor agreements, or pla's are a different story. a pla is when a
local building trades organization submits a bid to the government for a
job, usually a prison or hospital, in which the bid might be higher, but the
trades commission guarantees that only union journeyman will be performing
the work. that benefits the government because it might cost a little more
initially, but the job is guaranteed to come in under budget, and they have
the skills of union trained hands doing the construction. most people don't
realize the education that apprentices receive. I went to Penn state for
fire protection technology. I only received an associates degree, but how
many non union construction workers have that. in my trade, as well as many
others, you must be able to do advanced math on an everyday basis. not a day
goes by that my designer misses something, and I must use hydraulic
calculations to determines waterflow and area density to install a piece of
pipe not dra2wn on my print.
