Email to Editor: Clarification on Prevailing Wage

Date Posted: June 2, 2017

Posted In: Discussion,

Editor’s Note: As an aggregating website we pick up articles literally from sources around the globe. Some are less knowledgeable about our industry than others. Recently we ran a St. Louis Post-Dispatch article on the current legislation on Project Labor Agreements. The Post article conflated PLAs with prevailing wage. 

Malcolm Sweet, general manager of of Integrated Facility Service offered the following clarification.

Tom, it appears that there is confusion about what a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) which the new legislation bans for public entities versus Prevailing Wage, which while under fire is still the law of the land.  All public work will still require minimum prevailing wages (unless the job size falls below the threshold);  which in most cases will still be pegged to the local union wage.

A PLA means all contractors must sign an agreement requiring them to pay local union wages and fringes to the appropriate craft in exchange for the unions’ promising certain concessions, such as no strike or only  x1 ½ for OT etc.  While the industry might understand these nuances and I am sure you do, I feel the general public does not clearly understand these and as such the Post-Dispatch and your article of today may not be interpreted properly.

The battle to preserve Prevailing Wage in MO will continue on and I am concerned that this is a very thorny and difficult story to present to the masses so that we can continue to provide wages and benefits that are reasonably fair.  Thus I am asking that we be very careful in how we portray these issues.  Thank you.