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Indiana Republican Leader Admits Prevailing Wage Repeal Hasn’t Saved Money

 

Indiana Republican Leader Admits Prevailing Wage Repeal Hasn’t Saved Money

Kenneth Quinnell

May 4, 2017 (from the AFLCIO.org website)

The Republican-led Wisconsin state Senate is discussing a bill to repeal prevailing wage laws for public works projects. As with most such attacks on working people in the United States, the arguments advanced in service of stripping rights from workers fall flat under even the slightest scrutiny.

Even Republicans admit that when pressed. Indiana passed a similar law in 2015 and video has surfaced from a forum April 24 in Milwaukee, where Indiana’s House Assistant Majority Leader Ed Soliday (R) admits that the prevailing wage repeal in his state didn’t save a penny.

Soliday said:

“We got rid of prevailing wage and so far it hasn’t saved a penny. Probably the people most upset with us repealing [prevailing] wage were the locals. Because the locals, quite frankly, like to pay local contractors and they like local contractors to go to the dentist in their own town.

The exaggerations in those hearings that we were going save 22%. Well, total labor costs right now in road construction is about 22%, and I haven’t noticed anyone who’s going to work for free. [They claim] there’s some magic state out there that’s going to send all these workers into work for $10 an hour and it’s just not going to happen. There’s not 22% savings out there when the total cost of labor is 22%. It’s rhetoric. So far, I haven’t seen a dime of savings out of it.”

Analysis of the Wisconsin legislation shows that $1.2 billion will be lost annually if the bill passes because of reduced economic activity. Study of the Indiana repeal shows that the state lost jobs because of it, and neighboring Kentucky saw a very similar number of new construction jobs appear in the aftermath.

Retiree Healthcare Costs Rally in Evendale

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Evendale, Ohio – There was a great turnout on Wednesday, April 26 for a Retirees Against GE Healthcare Changes (RAGEHCC) rally.  Workers from GE Aviation were well represented – as members from IAM Lodge 912 and UAW Lodge 647 joined with retirees from GE Evendale, Bloomington, Fort Wayne, and Louisville.  Young and old gathered together to show GE that they care about retirees and their rights.

GE retirees face some important issues – like reduced pensions, health care coverage changes, Social Security, and Medicare.  There are thousands of RAGEHCC members who are acting to protect the benefits they earned.  They work both by legislation, in legal settlements, and at bargaining tables across the US.

“Together, we will take on employers and those in Congress who view retired workers as expendable liabilities,” states their website.

For more information, go to their websites:

WWW.RAGEHCC.ORG

https://www.facebook.com/ragehcc/

 

Why Right-To-Work … Is Wrong for Ohio

 There is a lot of information flowing about Right-To-Work today, and a lot of misinformation.

These are the facts:

  • On-the-job death rates are 49% higher. 
  • For workers living in RTW states, the average median income is $681 less per month than workers in non-RTW states.
  • Workers in right-to-work states are less likely to have health insurance.
  • Union workers have more safety training and are more likely to have gone through an apprenticeship.
  • Communities lose jobs when wages are lowered by RTW.  The Economic Policy Institute estimates that for every $1 million in wage cuts, the local economy sheds six jobs.
  • Right to work is not a deciding factor in where businesses locate.  Studies show this over and over.  On the other hand, a talented workforce is a factor.

 

In right-to-work companies, management is in control of the entire process.  They dictate where to work and how to do it.  In free-bargaining locations, when a worker is concerned regarding their safety around questionable equipment, they can refuse to operate it without fear of rebuke. When was the last time billionaires spent millions of dollars to give workers more rights and more freedom on the job? Never.

 

Middle-class families don’t support lower wages or less safe workplaces. Ohio does not need to join the ranks of neighboring RTW states. It is an extreme, outdated, partisan agenda. Right to work is wrong. Wrong for working people. Wrong for Ohio. Wrong for all of us. Don’t trust it and don’t trust anyone trying to peddle this bad idea under the guise of freedom.