Order by Bush Curtails Some Union Job Rules : Labor: White House says action seeks to cut costs on government projects, allow non-union firms to bid on contracts.
President Bush, blatantly snubbing organized labor in an apparent bid to woo conservatives, signed an executive order Friday that chips away at the historic Davis-Bacon Act.
The act, passed in 1931, has required generations of contractors to pay prevailing union wages and abide by other union standards for all workers--union and non-union alike--on federal construction projects.
The executive order leaves intact the prevailing union wage requirement but apparently will allow contractors to skirt other union work rules that, among other things, prevent workers from doing more than one type of job on a federal project. For example, in theory at least, carpenters would be able to do basic electrical work now done only by electricians.
A White House official who asked not to be identified said the move also was intended to cut costs on government construction projects by permitting non-union firms to bid on jobs from which they currently are excluded. Already, she said, about 70% of the U.S. construction industry is non-union.
“What we are doing is allowing these open shops to have the same (bidding) rights” as union shops, the White House official said, while letting the market set the “right price for these projects.”
At the same time, the executive order would leave union workers “open to inroads on their wages and job security,” said Neil N. Bernstein, a labor arbitrator and law professor at Washington University in St. Louis. Bernstein said the Bush Administration is “basically writing off organized labor by doing this.”
Still, Bernstein said, some factors could limit the impact of the executive order. For one thing, non-union firms may lack the necessary skills for big, complicated projects.
Also, Bernstein said, contractors might be reluctant to stir up ill will between union and non-union crews working together on projects by treating them differently.
The executive order, due to take effect in 30 days, was disclosed at a Bush campaign appearance in Miami late in the afternoon. The White House official speaking on condition of anonymity said the timing of the announcement at a time when it was unlikely to attract great attention was coincidental and that the order had been under consideration for six or seven months.
But, the official said, it “would be misleading to say there were no political implications because it is a political year.”
Steven Westra, president of Associated Builders and Contractors, which has challenged the legality of union-only agreements in several court cases, said in a statement that he was “delighted” with the President’s action.
He said the national organization and its 80 chapters nationwide would “throw their full support” behind Bush in his reelection bid. The Washington-based organization represents 16,000 member firms.
Rex Hardesty, a spokesman for the AFL-CIO in Washington, called Bush’s action a clear attempt to win the builder group’s backing. He said the association had tried to stop the state of Massachusetts from entering into a project agreement to use all union subcontractors on a project to clean up Boston Harbor.
Earlier this month, Bush exempted hurricane-damaged areas of Florida, Louisiana and Hawaii from the Davis-Bacon Act to speed and cut the cost of rebuilding efforts. The action drew immediate criticism from the AFL-CIO.
