AWF Calls for Prevailing Wage Survey Reform
Click here to download the official letter
January 23, 2008
***AWF WILL RATE ANY DAVIS-BACON VOTE ON S. 1200***
Dear Senator,
On behalf of millions of hardworking Americans and the Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), I am urging you to oppose the expansion of the logistically flawed Davis-Bacon Act prevailing wage requirements embedded within S. 1200, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act of 2008.
Before laws are passed which extend Davis-Bacon coverage to private sector construction projects, as seen in the recent energy legislation, we are urging you to fix the survey problems identified by the Department of Labor, the Government Accountability Office, and the Office of Inspector General.
Inaccurate and out of date self-reported surveys, with an error rate of 100 percent, hardly reflect true prevailing wages. With overwhelming evidence for reform, allowing these distorting practices to continue does nothing more that skew the labor market directly in favor of Big Labor unions and against the average American worker and business owner.
According to the James Sherk of the Heritage Foundation, “In almost every case, the prevailing wages do not resemble the actual market wages. Davis-Bacon wages vary from 38 percent below market wages for electricians in Tampa Bay to 73 percent above market wages for plumbers in San Francisco.” This outdated, Depression-era wage subsidy system is forcing the burden on taxpayers in one city and altering market wages in another – reform or repeal, not status quo, are the only options.
Rather than broadening the scope of the Davis-Bacon Act and prevailing wage laws, as seen in the recent energy legislation, we are urging you to consider the preceding evidence and reform the Davis-Bacon Act wage determination. By passing legislation that requires the Department of Labor to calculate prevailing wages, using proper statistical techniques and using larger geographical areas rather than civil divisions, will generate valid random samples and will actually reflect a true market wage.
Please contact my office to discuss responsible and sound legislative options, including amendments that will ensure these surveys reflect the true “prevailing wage” by using proper statistical techniques. AWF will rate any vote on Davis-Bacon associated with this legislation.
Sincerely,
Brian M Johnson,
Director of Policy
