Contractors and some lawmakers are pushing back against efforts to change how Pennsylvania officials apply prevailing wage law, which sets a floor for wages on publicly funded construction projects.
Their target is legislation before the state House and Senate that critics argue will drive up costs for public works.
“It’s simply the wrong solution for Pennsylvanians,” state Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, Republican chair of the House Labor & Industry Committee, said at a press conference yesterday in the state Capitol.
Supporters of the prevailing wage argue that the law ensures fair wages on projects paid for by public funds. The changes, they argue, ensure workers continue to benefit.
What’s the issue: The bills tackle two.
The first is workers who might earn different wages on the same day depending on the scope of the work they are doing, known as split rates.
A carpenter, for example, might earn a carpenter’s wage while framing a project but earn a laborer’s wage while cleaning up the sawdust left behind.
The legislation would essentially ban the practice, a move that critics argue would raise costs and impede efficiency.
Carpenters could have to sit, for example, while laborers did the cleaning, said Jim Willshier, government affairs director for the Keystone chapter of Associated Builders & Contractors.
The second involves applying prevailing wages to off-site fabrication of custom building components, a growing practice in the construction industry.
Under the legislation, prevailing wages would be paid to workers involved in the offsite fabrication, though some products would be exempted, such as precast concrete and structural steel.
The prevailing wage would be based on the location of the construction project incorporating the component built offsite.
The parts could be coming from other states, however, potentially raising interstate commerce issues, Wills hier said.”And for all of that, we haven’t really seen what the problem is they are trying to solve,” he added.
In a memo, bill sponsors describe the lack of coverage for off-site fabrication as a legal loophole that results in skilled workers earning less than the prevailing wage.
Where is this happening: The proposed changes are incorporated in two bills, one in the House and one in the Senate.
The House legislation, House Bill 2153, was approved by a committee in April on a party-line vote of 14-11.
A state Senate panel passed its version, Senate Bill 841, in May on a bipartisan vote of 10-1.
Neither bill has made it to the full House or full Senate.
The background: Under Pennsylvania law, prevailing wages apply to any publicly funded project with an estimated cost of more than $25,000.
That threshold was set in 1963, state Rep. Barb Gleim, a Cumberland County Republican, noted at yesterday’s press conference.
Gleim has advocated raising the amount to account for inflation over the last six decades, which she said yesterday would push the threshold to more than $250,000.
