Part of Governor Doyle's state budget this year was a large expansion of Wisconsin's prevailing wage laws. This proposal likely will be modified as the budget debate moves ahead.
The prevailing wage laws are an essential part of public work projects because they ensure that taxpayer funds are spent on projects completed by quality employees of quality businesses. In addition, they set the standard for a taxpayer funded wage in a community - the average wage paid for a specific job in a county. Federal, state and local government should be paying the average wage for jobs put out to bid and paid for buy hardworking taxpayers. Prevailing wage laws don't affect the lowest price process for public works jobs because all bidders must comply with the law. We don't need to pay extra for our public works projects, but we should guarantee that employees are being paid the average wage in a community. That is just good government and good business for taxpayers and working families.
Currently in Wisconsin, prevailing wage laws govern large public works projects - those over $48,000 for single trade projects and $234,000 for multi-trade projects. The governor's proposal was to lower that bottom threshold to $2,000 on all projects. I don't believe this proposal will pass as is through the Legislature because it creates some serious problems for towns and smaller villages. I believe there needs to be a higher threshold - many town projects are $5,000 and should not be subject to the prevailing wage process. I will advocate for increasing the threshold to a higher level and I also believe we need to expand the way we classify jobs so that more general labor jobs are paid general labor wages in a county.
I am a supporter of Wisconsin's current prevailing wage laws and the federal prevailing wage laws because they not only ensure workers are paid a fair wage but they stop shady hiring practices and discourage cut rate work on public projects at the expense of taxpayers. However, it is very clear to me that the proposed change would create significant problems for small bid projects in my local communities, so I am willing to advocate for a change.
Wisconsin prevailing wage standards require construction contractors working on government funded projects to pay their employees wages no less than the average wage paid in their occupation by private contractors in the locality. The first prevailing wage statute was passed by the state of Kansas in 1891. Laws applying to federally funded contracts were passed in 1931. Prevailing wage laws were enacted to maintain community wage standards, support local economic stability and to protect taxpayers from sub-standard labor.
Prevailing wage laws were passed at the national and state level in the 1930s to protect state jobs threatened by out-of-state contractors who hired itinerant laborers at low wages and won federal contracts by bidding lower than local companies could afford. These laws set clear parameters to ensure that contractors bid on public projects on the basis of skill and efficiency, not on how poorly they pay their workers.
While I do have concerns about the limits of the governor's proposal and I will advocate for change, I will not waiver on my support for prevailing wage laws which are good public policy for Wisconsin taxpayers and working families.
- Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, serves the 27th State Senate District.
The prevailing wage laws are an essential part of public work projects because they ensure that taxpayer funds are spent on projects completed by quality employees of quality businesses. In addition, they set the standard for a taxpayer funded wage in a community - the average wage paid for a specific job in a county. Federal, state and local government should be paying the average wage for jobs put out to bid and paid for buy hardworking taxpayers. Prevailing wage laws don't affect the lowest price process for public works jobs because all bidders must comply with the law. We don't need to pay extra for our public works projects, but we should guarantee that employees are being paid the average wage in a community. That is just good government and good business for taxpayers and working families.
Currently in Wisconsin, prevailing wage laws govern large public works projects - those over $48,000 for single trade projects and $234,000 for multi-trade projects. The governor's proposal was to lower that bottom threshold to $2,000 on all projects. I don't believe this proposal will pass as is through the Legislature because it creates some serious problems for towns and smaller villages. I believe there needs to be a higher threshold - many town projects are $5,000 and should not be subject to the prevailing wage process. I will advocate for increasing the threshold to a higher level and I also believe we need to expand the way we classify jobs so that more general labor jobs are paid general labor wages in a county.
I am a supporter of Wisconsin's current prevailing wage laws and the federal prevailing wage laws because they not only ensure workers are paid a fair wage but they stop shady hiring practices and discourage cut rate work on public projects at the expense of taxpayers. However, it is very clear to me that the proposed change would create significant problems for small bid projects in my local communities, so I am willing to advocate for a change.
Wisconsin prevailing wage standards require construction contractors working on government funded projects to pay their employees wages no less than the average wage paid in their occupation by private contractors in the locality. The first prevailing wage statute was passed by the state of Kansas in 1891. Laws applying to federally funded contracts were passed in 1931. Prevailing wage laws were enacted to maintain community wage standards, support local economic stability and to protect taxpayers from sub-standard labor.
Prevailing wage laws were passed at the national and state level in the 1930s to protect state jobs threatened by out-of-state contractors who hired itinerant laborers at low wages and won federal contracts by bidding lower than local companies could afford. These laws set clear parameters to ensure that contractors bid on public projects on the basis of skill and efficiency, not on how poorly they pay their workers.
While I do have concerns about the limits of the governor's proposal and I will advocate for change, I will not waiver on my support for prevailing wage laws which are good public policy for Wisconsin taxpayers and working families.
- Sen. Jon Erpenbach, D-Waunakee, serves the 27th State Senate District.
