78-15-B7

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Davis-Bacon Act

Transcript The law known as the Davis-Bacon Act requires that all construction jobs involving any federal funds must pay what is called "prevailing wages" to workers. Almost invariably, those wages are at the highest union scale in the area, and the area may extend from a high-wage central city far into lower wage rural areas. In lower-wage areas, local governments are forced to pay exorbitant wages on construction jobs financed in part from federal funds. That is a needless burden on local taxpayers, but it's not the only problem with the Davis-Bacon Act. Consider what happened to the Interfaith Adopt-A-Building project in Manhattan's Lower East Side. There, a group of young Puerto Rican men decided to rehabilitate an abandoned tenement building. By scrounging materials and doing most of the work themselves (and getting title to the building from the city for a nominal sum) they hoped to become owners of their own co-op apartments. The plan was a good one. Church groups and a local foundation provided money to get started. The men enrolled as trainees in the CETA program, which gave them enough to stay alive while they were learning construction skills and getting their apartments renovated. Then they ran into the Davis-Bacon Act. These young workers were prepared to pay union plumbers the full union scale to hook up the plumbing. That wasn't the problem. The problem came when the U.S. Labor Department insisted that for the first young worker learning the ropes on the project, 12 union plumbers had to be employed, and for the second trainee an additional 14 union plumbers were required! This is the so-called work rules requirement under the Davis-Bacon Act. One or two licensed plumbers were plenty to do the job, yet here was the government threatening to shut down the job unless 12 or more journeyman plumbers were hired for each young man hauling rubble, carrying lumber, and painting walls! The purpose of such a requirement, obviously, is to make clear that unless all union plumbers work, no one else can work at all. The hierarchy of Big Labor seems determined to resist any attempt to change the Davis-Bacon Act. They are comfortably off so it is of no concern to them that the self- help efforts of a dozen young Puerto Rican men in Manhattan are placed in serious jeopardy. No wonder people are losing faith in government. This is Ronald Reagan. Thanks for listening.		Details Batch Number 78-15-B7 Production Date 10/31/1978 Book/Page Online PDF Audio Youtube? No
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