The times we are living in now are much like the early 1900’s. The story below is about the early fight with Corporations.

In 1931, laws were enacted both in Washington and in Wisconsin to guarantee fair competition on federal and state construction projects. Over the years these laws, the Davis-Bacon Act and the state Prevailing Wage law, have become recognized by workers both inside and outside the construction industry, as important milestones in the history of organized labor.

It is interesting that Senator Davis and Representative Bacon were both Republicans. Here is some information from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis-Bacon_Act

The act is named after its Republican sponsors, James "Puddler Jim" Davis, a Senator from Pennsylvania and a former Secretary of Labor under three presidents, and Representative Robert L. Bacon of Long Island, New York.

The Davis-Bacon Act was amended in 1935 to ensure that contractors bidding on public works projects would not lower wages so as to be sure to make the lowest bid; and to permit government agencies, which were required to accept the lowest bids, to employ contractors who paid a "fair" wage rather than those who competed by hiring cheaper labor (such as from minorities).

This has a slant to it. It is subtle, but it is there. No mention is made that the cheaper labor in question was frequently from out of state, which meant local citizens paying taxes for the work did not get the jobs. Local contractors and business did not get income either. Minorities are mentioned because they were exploited and brought up North to take jobs away from local craftsmen. And this did create racial tension.

It is fitting that workers, particularly those in construction, understand the important role prevailing wage laws have played over the years in protecting workers on public works projects. It is equally important to remember the conditions and circumstances under which these laws got on the books.

Here we have an important point. The Act, from labor’s perspective, is about “protecting workers on public works projects.” Protecting workers is what most labor law is about. But Davis-Bacon also addresses other concerns as well.

Today, many people believe the Davis-Bacon Act was a product of the great depression. While it is true the Davis-Bacon Act was passed two years after the stock market crash of 1929, the fact is the Act had little to do with the so-called “pump-priming” policies of that era.

By the time the Davis-Bacon Act became law, seven states had already enacted prevailing wage statutes — most notably, Kansas, which passed the first state prevailing wage law in 1891.

New York also had a prevailing wage statute on the books before the turn of the century, nearly 30 years before the first version of the Act was introduce in Congress in 1926 — in the midst of the roaring twenties.

By the middle of the 1920s, the United States government was already greatly involved in heavy construction projects ranging from flood control and dam building to expanding and housing the institutions of government.

Federal and state governments were preparing to become even more active and sought to protect themselves from falling victim to “fly-by-night” “cut throat” contractors who performed “shoddy” work with “exploited”, “low-skilled” and “imported” workforce.

So, part of the problem was outside contractors taking work away from contractors in the area. If the work was poor, how could the state get things fixed? Added to this problem, low paid, out of state workers would take jobs away from local workers. And the out of state workers were mostly exploited minorities, which created tensions with racial overtones.

Interestingly enough, those were not the words of labor, but were the words of the bill’s primary sponsors, Congressman Robert Bacon and Pennsylvania Senator James Davis, who viewed their bill not so much as a means to protect workers, but more as a way of providing some market stability in what was, and still is, an inherently unstable construction industry.

Again look at the spin in Wikipedia:

Rep. Bacon--whose pet issue was protecting America’s racial "homogeneity"--initially introduced what became the Davis-Bacon Act in 1927 after a contractor employed African-American workers from Alabama to build a Veteran’s Bureau hospital in his district. The "neighboring community," Bacon reported, was "very upset," as were local unions. The legislative history of Davis-Bacon reflects a desire by Congress to reserve jobs on federal projects for local, union workers, at the expense especially of itinerant black workers.

This is spin. No mention is made of local businesses. Wikipedia looks at Davis-Bacon as strictly a Union thing. There is nothing wrong with this but it is only one aspect of the problem being looked at by Congress at the time.

Take a look at this October 14, 2005 article titled 'More on the Davis-Bacon Act' at http://volokh.com/posts/1129294459.shtml . There is anti-worker bias everywhere we look. And do you really think these anti-union guys are really concerned with minorities?

Then as now, construction is a time and materials industry. Low bid requirements on public projects allowed contractors from outside an area to bid and win work based on substandard wages and helped create the situation where contractors literally “imported” low-wage workers from around the country rather than use the local labor force.

Abuses were wide spread in the years preceding the Acts passage. Bacon, a former Banker, explained the need for the law when he detailed for his colleagues during debate on the bill how a construction firm from Alabama transported thousands of unskilled workers to a public project in New York.

“They were herded onto this job, they were housed in shacks, they were paid a very low wage, and ... it seems to me that the federal government should not engage in construction work in any state and undermine the labor conditions and the labor wages paid in that state.”

This exemplifies the never ending tension between capital and labor. The boss wants to make as much money as possible and will find every way possible to do it. In this situation, the outside contractor does not care about the customer or workers.

The same applies to big multinational corporations moving jobs from America to China. We could change this by changing laws. We would need to get pro labor politicians elected to office. The only way to do this now is through direct member participation. No participation, things get worse.

Davis, the former Secretary of Labor under Presidents Harding, Coolidge and Hoover, went on to argue that “the least the Federal Government can do is comply with the local standards of wages and labor prevailing in the locality where the building construction is to take place.”

By establishing a local wage standard that contractors had to pay workers on public projects, the authors intended to provide a level playing field on which contractors could compete for work based on wages that “prevailed” in the area, rather than rewarding the practice of slashing worker’s wages in order to win work.

Davis-Bacon was modified in 1964 to include fringe benefits in the calculation of prevailing wages.

Again from Wikipedia:

In 1934 President Franklin Roosevelt suspended the Act for three weeks in order to manage administrative adjustments in light of the New Deal.

This is understandable in view of the far reaching redistribution of wealth to working people made by Roosevelt’s New Deal.

The Davis-Bacon Act was suspended by President Richard Nixon for 28 days in February 1971 in efforts to reduce inflation pressures. Labor Secretary Peter J. Brennan accused the Nixon administration of treating the construction workers as patsies. Shortly afterward Nixon reinstated Davis-Bacon enforcement and ordered the establishment of the Construction Industry Stabilization Committee.

Inflation means that workers want more of the wealth and get a contract giving it to them. Management does not want a cut in their wages so they raise prices for their products. Workers must pay more to live and the entire thing spirals out of control.

It is always the workers who are forced to give up their wealth for others who are accumulating wealth. It has always been this way. If we want a fair shake, we must fight for it. There are fewer and fewer fighters everyday so we are losing ground everyday.

In September 1992 President George H.W. Bush indefinitely suspended the Davis-Bacon Act during the recovery from Hurricane Andrew in 1992.

This should not be a surprise. Corporate politicians work for Corporate interests. Why would working families elect politicians who don’t represent their interests?

. . . . Republicans have long been trying to repeal the Davis-Bacon act on the grounds that the regulations are outdated, expensive and bureaucratic. In 1993 Representative Cliff Stearns [2] urged the repeal of the act. Republican Sue Wilkins Myrick tried to repeal it outright in the budget battles of 1995. [3] Weakening it has been part of the Republican Party platform in 1996 and 2000. In February 1999 Representative Ron Paul attempted to repeal it.[4] In 2004, Representative Marilyn Musgrave tried again.

After Bill Clinton became president, he re-instated the Act in March of 1993.

And even with this “burdensome Act” reinstated, we had a balanced Federal budget. We fought over what we would do with the “budget surplus”. But the Republicans turned the surplus into a deficit in boondoggle after boondoggle which pumped billions into the pockets of Corporate America. The same Corporate America moving jobs overseas and demanding for wage cuts.

On September 7, 2005, President Bush, citing a "national emergency," again suspended the Act in the areas of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana and Mississippi ravaged by Hurricane Katrina.

You can see the information on the suspension at http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/aam/DBRA_Guidance.pdf

And gave no bid contracts to supporters. Halliburton got a 12 Billion dollar no bid contract for rebuilding. Do you think they will pass the savings gained by low wages and benefits paid their employees on to us taxpayers or to the recipients of their contract?

Laborers of the period, because so many were recent immigrants, because they performed “unskilled” work, and because they were easily replaced, were particularly vulnerable to these practices. Recognizing the direct impact of the Act of protecting Laborers, the General Executive Board of the Laborers International Union voted to endorse the Davis-Bacon Act in 1931.

Now take a look at this article titled “The Davis-Bacon Act: Let's Bring Jim Crow to an End”. There is some truth in what is presented, but there is also a lot of truth left out. Especially with respect to our current situation.

Here is an article from our perspective “Labor fights to preserve Davis-Bacon”. When you read, “Some of the money [from a prevailing wage] would go to workers, but a lot of it would be siphoned off by unions through dues money because they are no longer forced to hold taxpayers hostage through union contracts.” Let’s be clear about this. Our union dues are around $2,000 per year. The difference between union electrician wages and nonunion electrician wages is about $20,000 per year. Nonunion dues are 10 times what union dues are. Corporations just want to take money out of worker’s pockets for themselves.

Homework

Discuss this on the job. Discuss it with family and friends. Are we helpless in the face of corruption? Is it true we can’t fight City Hall? Is it true it makes no difference who we elect to public office? Is it true that someone else will take care of our problems for us? The Union doesn’t have the money or manpower to do much of anything these days. The Labor Movement is dieing. What do you intend to do about this?