Originally posted by: GroundedSailor
Originally posted by: BlancoNino
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis-Bacon_Act
Does this actually help the poor? Who can afford to win the bid for government construction projects under this act? That's right, rich expensive Union contractors. Perhaps there is only 1 in in an entire state that can afford to pay their workers that much, thus eliminating any competition. They may even do a terrible job, which is a double-whammy waste of tax dollars.
It helps in a couple of ways:
1. It helps tradesmen to get a fair wage for the work they do. Otherwise unscrupulous contractors would pay as little as possible and pocket large profits themselves.
2. Paying a decent wage means you get decent workers.
3. It levels the playing field for union and non-union contractors when they bid on the jobs as the labor costs are roughly the same. It's interesting to note that in most cases the union rates are the same as Davis Bacon rates.
FYI Union contractors are usually not rich because they have to compete against non union contractors for jobs and the only way they can compete is to keep their margins low - specially those jobs where the Davis-Bacon act does not apply. It's the non union contractors who usually have more money for themselves.
To prove compliance with the act, contractors have to submit certified payrolls weekly and the Dept of Labor is usually quite thorough with their checking and auditing. They will send out people to talk to the crew and if they smell anything fishy you can bet any contractor who pays less than what he claims will eventually get caught and blacklisted. Majority contractors know this - specially in the construction industry - and do not play games with prevailing wages.