State Files New Prevailing Wage Rules

The administration of Gov. Pete Wilson filed long-anticipated and controversial regulations intended to save tax dollars by cutting the prevailing wage paid to laborers on public works projects. The Wilson administration claims that the new regulations, which would bring California’s standards in line with those of the federal government and most other states, would save the state about $200 million a year in labor costs on construction projects. But union officials, who are expected to go to court to try to block the reforms, have said the plan would chip away at a fundamental workplace protection that assures construction workers of receiving decent pay. Barring a court victory by the unions, the new regulations will take effect in 30 days. The current system in California ties wages on public works projects to the most common pay level in an area--enabling the union pay scale to prevail even if a minority of workers are represented by organized labor in a particular region. Under the Wilson proposal, wages could be reduced in many cases because they would be pegged to what the majority of construction workers in a given area earn or to a “weighted average” of workers’ wages.