President Restores Davis-Bacon To
Katrina-Stricken Areas
October 28, 2005
Public pressure from union members, worker advocates and lawmakers
in both parties has forced President Bush to announce his intention
to rescind his September 8 suspension of the Davis-Bacon wage
rules in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. Union
members rebuilding the storm-torn region will be paid prevailing
wages starting on November 8.
“It was fundamentally wrong for the Bush administration
to hit workers when they were down by slashing wages, exacerbating
the very poverty that the hurricanes exposed,” said AFL-CIO
President John Sweeney. “Workers deserve prevailing
wage protections, which guarantee a living wage, especially for
work done with America’s tax dollars.”
Mounting bipartisan pressure from Congress played a key role in
Bush’s reversal. Every Democratic lawmaker in the
House of Representatives had signed on to a bill in favor of overturning
the president’s proclamation. Rep. George Miller (D-
Calif.) was planning to invoke a little-known resolution under
the 1976 National Emergencies Act, which provides for fast track
action by Congress when the president unilaterally suspends a law,
as he did via executive order.
Although thousands of IBEW members are playing a vital role in
rebuilding the Gulf Coast, the Davis-Bacon suspension hurt many. New
Orleans Local
130 members were yanked off a prevailing wage project
shortly after the Davis-Bacon suspension. Seventy-five workers
from St. Bernard’s Parish, the Lower Ninth Ward and the Lake
Charles lost out to nonunion workers brought in from out of state
after less than three weeks on the job. (Click
here for more...)
“Refusing to retreat from his callous error, the president
found himself trapped in a box constructed by a unified Democratic
party in the House of Representatives and a small group of Republicans,” Miller
said in a timeline of the events. “The president had
nowhere to turn. The President’s ignominious Gulf
Coast wage cut has been overturned.”
A Congressional Research Service report released in October concluded
that the Davis-Bacon wage rule suspension does not ensure reconstruction
costs are lowered. But Republicans emboldened by the president’s
actions have introduced their own bill that would automatically
trigger a wage law suspension when the president declares a disaster.
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