‘Little Davis-Bacon’ Laws Hurt Construction Employees and Taxpayers

U.S. Sen. James Davis and Rep. Robert Bacon

The Kansas City Star reports today that Missouri legislators are considering a modest revision in the way “prevailing wages†on state and local tax-funded construction are calculated.

The proposed change could help taxpayers get a somewhat better return on their dollar, but a much better move would be to scrap altogether the “little Davis-Bacon†law that imposes so-called “prevailing wages†on public works.

An op-ed I drafted last summer for Show-Me State newspapers explains how Missouri’s and other state laws modeled on the federal Davis-Bacon Act “promote wasteful work rules, featherbedding and, all too often, outright corruption.†Even worse, Davis-Bacon laws “undermine construction employees’ Right to Work by requiring all contractors on taxpayer-funded projections, union and nonunion alike, to submit to rigid job classifications, work rules, and wage rates that are, in reality, union-dictated.â€

The whole op-ed can be read here:  ‘Prevailing Wage’ Law a Bad Deal for Taxpayers and Most Workers…