Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Blanco asks Bush to do the right thing and pay prevailing wages
It's absolutely ridiculous that this was taken out of force after Katrina in the first place, he should do the right thing and re-instate the protections.
In Sept. 30 letter to the president, Blanco wrote, "A key part of this request is to make sure that Louisiana's businesses and workers are the ones who are given the opportunity to do the work of rebuilding our state." Blanco also asked President Bush to exempt Louisiana from his executive order suspending provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act for the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Davis-Bacon Act requires federal contractors on federally funded projects to pay workers prevailing wages in the area where the work is conducted and encourages apprenticeship and training programs for women and minorities.
"In many instances, our workers are performing their same functions for far less money at a time when they are in desperate need of adequate wages. Our own companies are losing contracts when they are competing against outside companies who are taking advantage of your order by paying incredibly low wages and bringing in workers from elsewhere," the governor wrote. "Our state and our economy have already been devastated. I don't think Louisiana's workers should be given less consideration in wages than other Americans just because we have suffered a disaster."
full story here
In Sept. 30 letter to the president, Blanco wrote, "A key part of this request is to make sure that Louisiana's businesses and workers are the ones who are given the opportunity to do the work of rebuilding our state." Blanco also asked President Bush to exempt Louisiana from his executive order suspending provisions of the Davis-Bacon Act for the areas affected by Hurricane Katrina. The Davis-Bacon Act requires federal contractors on federally funded projects to pay workers prevailing wages in the area where the work is conducted and encourages apprenticeship and training programs for women and minorities.
"In many instances, our workers are performing their same functions for far less money at a time when they are in desperate need of adequate wages. Our own companies are losing contracts when they are competing against outside companies who are taking advantage of your order by paying incredibly low wages and bringing in workers from elsewhere," the governor wrote. "Our state and our economy have already been devastated. I don't think Louisiana's workers should be given less consideration in wages than other Americans just because we have suffered a disaster."
full story here
# posted by Jude Boudreaux @ 10/04/2005 02:29:00 PM 
