Offsite rules sought for prevailing wage
Here's Reason No. 158 why it is important to have a worker-friendly administration in the White House.

The Labor Department, which is controlled by the Clinton Administration, is proposing to expand Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements to workers at off-site locations where a "significant" part of a construction project is being built.

The reason: with changes in construction technology, more and more building work is going to off-site shops that pay their workers substandard wages. Unions argue that those shops and their tens of thousands of workers should be included in Davis-Bacon provisions, while contractor groups argue that work performed away from a project's location shouldn't be subject to prevailing wage.

In terms of setting a precedent, the ramifications in this argument over pay standards for construction workers is huge. Prevailing wage is the single most important law on the nation's books that affect construction workers' wages. Without a rule that protects workers' wages on all facets of a construction project, the nonunion prefabrication industry will grow without checks and balances on wages and benefits.

An AFL-CIO Building Trades Department attorney told the Construction Labor Report that he is "generally pleased" with the Labor Department's proposal, but would like it to be expanded to temporary batch and fabrication plants established specifically to support a project.

Prisoners look to unions for a voice
Here's a new concept: unions in the slammer.

No, not for the guards, for the inmates. The Wall Street Journal reports that Missouri State Prison inmate Jerome White Bey, serving a 50-year sentence for murder and robbery, claims 500 prisoners in his state belong to the Missouri Prison Labor Union.

Prisons don't recognize prisoner unions and the unions in the joint have no bargaining rights. Bey said prisoners are looking for minimum wage instead of the lower pay prisoners receive.

In an economy in which many states and federal lawmakers are increasingly looking to put more workers into the economy, prison labor is becoming more and more targeted. The Journal reports that about 35 percent of the nation's prisoners are already in some kind of work program.

Sam T. Hart's name missing from list
In our last issue, we listed the names of building trades business managers who supported the United Way for Southeast Michigan Campaign 2000.

The name of Operating Engineers Local 324 Business Manager Sam T. Hart was omitted, and we regret the oversight.