Something is Bothering California Union Leaders and Lobbyists

Something is Bothering California Union Leaders and Lobbyists

Something is bothering union leaders and lobbyists in California. A few unreconstructed troglodytes in the hinterlands still haven’t received the memo explaining how unions will lead the state in its evolution to a more Progressive society, under the firm but benevolent hand of government authority.

The typical political, business, and community leader in California today holds fast to the hope that if he feeds the crocodile enough, the crocodile will eat him last. The Establishment often discusses the challenges facing the state’s future without mentioning union political power and the vigorous ideological visions of union leadership.

But a few stubborn fanatics have declined to leave for Texas and instead stick around to harp on outdated, embarrassing notions such as “fiscal responsibility,” “limited government,” “free markets,” and “constitutional doctrines.” These insidious rebels are constantly figuring out clever ways to subvert and circumvent the Left.

Here are some recent critical reports about these people from union officials and union sympathizers. Many of these reports contain inaccuracies about strategies and logistics of the resistance, but the reports are valuable in showing the nature of the resistance.

This Week in the War on Workers: Fending Off the ALEC of the Construction Industry in California – Daily Kos – August 24, 2013

  • “The Associated Builders and Contractors, AKA the ALEC of the construction industry, doesn’t like this so much. So it’s been turning its attention to charter cities, which can make their own laws, trying to get cities to adopt charters and to eliminate the prevailing wage.”
  • “This push employs some ridiculous myths, like the claim that cities can save 20 percent on their construction costs by eliminating the prevailing wage.”
  • “As with most of the ABC’s efforts, it’s important to understand that these are low-road contractors.”
  • “Defenders of the prevailing wage have been doing a good job fighting off city by city attacks, but ABC is relentless, bringing up and helping to fund the same charters in city after city.”

CEO Comes Out Swinging in Favor of SB7, Prevailing Wages, and the Race to the Top – We Party Patriots – August 22, 2013

  • “In recent years, anti-union groups have supported ballot initiatives throughout the state that would designate cities as charter cities specifically to avoid paying prevailing wages on public works projects.”
  • “a subject that has been trumpeted by anti-prevailing wage crusaders time and again: alleged savings associated with gutting wages.”
  • “SB7 is a response to lobbying attempts by contractor associations who wish to change California law for the worse.”

CEOs and Business Leaders for Prevailing Wage – Modesto Bee (op-ed) – August 19, 2013

  • “some Charter Cities have exempted prevailing wages in a shortsighted effort to save money, but the true costs outweigh any perceived benefit.”
  • “out-of-state lobby groups have recently mounted an effort — city by city — to encourage local leaders and politicians to place charters on the ballot in order to eliminate prevailing wage.”
  • “They promise savings of as much as 30 percent on projects.”
  • “The lobbyists making these arguments either don’t know what they are talking about, or they are being deliberately misleading.”
  • “The idea for SB7 didn’t appear out of the blue. It was a logical response to lobby groups trying to convince more cities to make the mistake of eliminating prevailing wage.”

Just What is a ‘Prevailing Wage?’ – Pomerado News (op-ed) – August 24, 2013

  • “Don’t count on the support of most contractors, or developers, or anti-worker politicians for a living wage.”
  • “‘It costs too much, it’s taxpayers’ money,’ they scream.”
  • “Of course, detractors trot out examples of someone being paid an exorbitant rate for a menial job, but those incidences are few.”
  • “With the exception of San Diego, whose original charter dates from the 1800s, the rest of these cities adopted charters relatively recently, for the most part, to avoid paying prevailing wages.” (Note: San Diego has maintained a policy of no government-mandated wage rates for construction contractors since 1980 – see the July 30, 2013 www.UnionWatch.org article After 33 Years, San Diego Submits to State Prevailing Wage Law.)

Prevailing Wage: Moving Forward in California, Backward in Other States – From the President, State Building and Construction Trades Council of California – July 2013

  • “Here is some of what the Building Trades are doing. The hallmark bill for 2013 is Senate Bill 7, to make charter cities eligible for state funding for public works projects only if they pay prevailing wage. Charter cities may choose to exempt themselves from prevailing wage, and some do. This measure would provide a strong financial incentive for those cities to stop shortchanging working men and women with substandard wages.”
  • “Speaking of charter cities, Senate Bill 311 requires that charter city conversion elections be held in a statewide general election, where voter participation is highest, in order to protect workers from the tactic of passing conversion measures in lower turnout municipal elections.”
  • “We are also protecting prevailing wage with Senate Bill 776, to prevent anti-union contractors from defining sham labor compliance committees as a fringe benefit, which can then be deducted from workers’ wages as a portion of the prevailing wage. The Associated Builders and Contractors, the anti-union group, have been using these deductions to fund themselves for their relentless drive to destroy construction unions.”
  • Assembly Bill 26 requires that contractors that do work in refineries carry a workforce that has been trained and graduated in state-approved construction apprenticeship programs, and requires those workers be paid the prevailing wage for construction workers in the area.” (A push to require prevailing wage on private projects! Note: see Senate Bill 54 for the current manifestation of this proposal. It will knock the Steelworkers union out of California refineries as well as non-union industrial contractors – see the August 26, 2013 Los Angeles Times article Two Unions Wage Turf Battle Over Oil Refinery Workers: A state bill would help the State Building & Construction Trades Council of California grab control of thousands of United Steelworkers jobs.)
  • “California’s working people have fought together with a tenacious resolve and unity in recent election cycles to elect forward-looking individuals to our Legislature and statewide offices…When we compare these worthy actions with the sad developments in many other states, we see the clear benefits of our unity and activism…”

Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 776 into law today (August 27, 2013), cutting off funding to the one independent labor compliance investigative program among several dozen union-affiliated labor-management cooperation committees operating in the state. Will these bills finally allow the “forward-looking individuals” aligned with unions in state and local government to advance their agenda unimpeded?


Kevin Dayton is the President & CEO of Labor Issues Solutions, LLC, and is the author of frequent postings about generally unreported California state and local policy issues at www.laborissuessolutions.com. Follow him on Twitter at @DaytonPubPolicy.

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