Interesting to see that the lefties are starting to figure out the problems with the unions and the waste of money we all have to face as a result of their lobby for so many years. Is that insane municipal health insurance union rule or Davis Bacon next on the agenda ?
For those in Newton, Davis- Bacon probably adds 20 pct to the cost of the new school.Lets see, $197 million at 20 pct. hmm.
Yes, together we can all move to the right.
Please share widely!
Hah. They haven’t started building yet. If they keep their current design, I’m guessing $235mm in the end. Plus some sort of low-bid HVAC system that annoys all the staff and kids.
The prevailing wage law is the very, very least of Newton’s problems with regard to that school. Was Graham Gund issued a “prevailing wage?” They guy designed a beautiful, and beautifully expensive school, collected his paycheck and skipped town, and left Dorr-Whittier to build the school, and bill the city. Oops, did we find asbestos in the ground? Sorry, the cost of construction just doubled.
The Davis-Bacon law covers federally funded construction projects. It was enacted in 1913 by two Republicans (co-sponsored in both the House and Senate) as a measure to prevent out-of area contractors from undercutting local contractors in all 50 states.
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p>In Massachusetts the state Prevailing Wage Law applies to state and municipal funded constrcution projects. The Prevailing Wage law sets pay rates by craft based on collective bargaining agreements between construction unions and employers. Regional collective bargaining agreements are used so that in a large majority of crafts the rate varies by area of the state.
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p>Any construction worker, union or non-union, working on a state or municipal project is paid the prevailing wage rate by law. Most estimates of the costs of construction say that labor represents about 20% of the overall cost of the project (vs financing, materials, equipment, insurance, bonding, etc).
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p>In 1988, the non-union contractor executives association – the Associated Builders & Contractors (ABC) then led by Steve Tocco (Bill Weld’s first Chief of Staff) and supported by Barbara Anderson funded a referendum question that would have repealed the prevailing wage. They argued that if you cut construction workers pay you could pay police, fire fighters and teachers more! They hoped to pit one group of workers against the other.
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p>Note that the ballot question did not limit the profit a contractor could make on public constrcution, did not limit attorney fees, bank interest rates or cap the cost of materials.
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p>Massachusetts voters, in a presidental election year with the Governor of Massachusetts on the ballot, rejected the ballot question by a 58% to 42% vote. A coalition of unions, progressives, women’s groups (prevailing wage is a gender neutral law, if you are a painter – male or female – you make the rate) religious, civic and community groups and elected officials worked to defeat the ballot question.
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p>During the planning and debate over the new Newton High the only constant has been that the pay rate for the workers is a know number and changes only with the collective bargaining agreements. Cost of material have increased through market pressure (fuel costs being a good percentage) as for most other costs. The wages paid women and men in the construction industry are the least of the issue in Newton.
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p>Note to rightmiddleleft. If you are going to attempt a bash at least get the name of the law right and know your history.
part of the history. Being in the industry for many years I have paid tens of millions in ransom on union jobs when they could of been open shop. …….The bottom line here (excuse the pun) is that laws such as Davis Bacon , and other union prevailing wages or whatever you want to call them are an unnecessary burden on the taxpayer . It is nice to see that unions are no longer in favor, as liberals are starting to understand that their pet social programs are impacted by the many of their own union initiatives.
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p>For the record, I was recently quoted by 3 union subcontractors $50 per square yard for carpet installed on a major project …. An open shop contractor was able to quote $25 per yard for the same material. Yes their employees were skilled (carpet layers) and were paid health insurance. Striker,,,,,,,,, you don’t have a clue what is going on in the real world but , with the name striker you are probably in the Carpenters union and know exactly what I am talking about.
Admittedly I’m not certain, but I thought Newton was partially funded from SBA grants and loans, and therefore subject to Davis-Bacon.
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p>Maybe State trumps Federal here, but if Newton is partly Federal funded then Davis Bacon would apply.
It would appear from the apparent BMG consensus against the Police and their detail pay, that to the political left, Unions are the best, except when they get too uppity, and they negotiate terms too good.
It does seem to be the BMG consensus that these police details should be sacrificed. After all, state employees have had to make a sacrifice on their health insurance costs.
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p>But in the opposite corner from unions are the corporations. And corporations have gone too far in many more cases recently. Oil corporations have gone too far in trying to obfuscate science. Insurance corporations should not be denying care to people like Natalie Sarkisian. CSX should not be allowed to shift to taxpayers the punitive damages the Supreme Court said it deserved.
still think of the police as “the man” or somesuch.