Ohio High court: Prevailing-wage law has limits

[Rick Rowlands]

I had to read your post about four times before I understood what you were trying to ask.  You might think about taking a remedial grammar course and perhaps figure out things like capitalizing the first word of sentences etc.

Anyways, in my career I have worked for one unionized employer, CSX Transportation.  I left CSX to work for a small business owner that had started a foundry.  After a couple of years doing that I became dissatisfied with the job and started my own foundry.  That lasted about 6 months until the electric rates killed the business.  Then I started working for another small business owner who had started a machine shop, and still work part time for him doing maintenance/millwright work.   Now there are two others who call me from time to time to help with special projects since I'm rather multi talented in the mechanical arts.  I've worked with molten metal, done machine work, electrical work including 480 VAC 3 phase, concrete, masonry, carpentry, dismantling, rigging and installation of machine tools weighing upwards of 50 tons and more.  I've operated mile long freight trains from Willard, OH to Chicago, done track work, signal work, locomotive repair including changing out traction motors and wheelsets, worked on overhead cranes, etc. 

I have never felt that anyone was holding me down, but then again I don't give anyone the power to hold me down.  I am the only person that can hold me down.  If you give others the power to hold you down then you will never break free of that.  Its all in your attitude.

[iwasthere]

rick rowlands what is/was your career that help pay your bills during your life time. was it based on prevailing wage scale or based on what the owners were going to pay you and squash any attempts to form a union at your place of employment to keep ind(s) down from having a decent life?

[Rick Rowlands]

Here is a question for our councilman. If the $250,000+ that was sunk into the Hazel Street extension was instead put toward paving roads this year, how many more lane miles could have been paved?

If the paving contractor did not have to pay prevailing wage on the city paving jobs how many more lane miles could be paved? 

[iwasthere]

tell me if ytown is spending their monies wisely? ytown government gave $20,000 to st. christine's church for landscaping/plant flowers and trees, $250,000 grenga machinery which ysu should have bought because it will benefit them more then ytown needing an extra 5 cityblock road, $1 million dollar low interest to ysu and the ytown catholic diocese out of the waste/water capital improvement fund for economic development while the waster system in ytown is crumbling around ytown residents. if the ytown city has this kind of money to give to ind(s) that have money then the city of ytown can well afford to pay the prevailing wage on the union scale for all work projects that are done in ytown.

[sfc_oliver]

Does Youngstown Ohio have money to throw away?

I would guess that they spend tens of thousands of dollars every year on projects that could be done for much less if not for the prevailing wage laws.

And the only reason there is such a thing is again because Unions wanted to keep the jobs for Union workers. To hell with the small businesses.

Unless of course I'm wrong.......But I don't think so.

[iwasthere]

if you would take the money too, why would you stop someone else from making the top dollar wage.

[sfc_oliver]

It didn't affect me. I was salary.
Fact remains that the city is forced to pay more than they should have to.
And that $12 to $16 is not bad wage for the Youngstown area, for unskilled labor.

But if it did affect me, only a fool or a liar would say they would give it back. In all things I will follow the law no matter how stupid it is.

[iwasthere]

i would like to know the naysayers on this forum that are against the prevailing wage received benefits from union contracts or contacts to make their lives a better place to live in USA? sarge are you saying you would be happier to earn $12-$16 hr instead of $24 hr. you would give back the difference to the cities that you worked in during your working yrs,

[Rick Rowlands]

Dennis, you always come up on the wrong side of an issue.  You state that you are for a fair wage, but prevailing wage is not a "fair wage".  It is an artificially inflated wage which has no basis in reality.  It is actually quite UNfair to the taxpayers who have to pay more to get the job done than they would otherwise if the wages were a "fair" representation of those actually paid in the community.

[sfc_oliver]

The Prevailing wage laws are nothing more than the Unions attempt to keep the small businesses from getting government jobs. And they do nothing but force the Tax payer to pay more for Government jobs. We did enough of them in our time and always had to bid the job almost double what we normally would have, just to make payroll. Our workers loved it instead of the $12-$16 an hour they were getting up to $24. At the Cities expense of course.

[iwasthere]

jay williams will love this ruling. he and his cohorts will do anything to bust the ytown unions, so he can pay a minimum pay rate.

[irishbobcat]

Ohio High court: Prevailing-wage law has limits
BUSINESS FIRST OF COLUMBUS
The Ohio Supreme Court on Wednesday shortened the reach of state's prevailing wage law, ruling it applies only to companies working directly on public-improvement project sites.
The court in a 6-1 decision reinstated a Medina County trial court's ruling in favor of Gene's Refrigeration Heating and Air Conditioning of Medina. The company was sued by an area labor union representing an employee who worked in a fabrication shop that supplied products to a public construction project.
That employee allowed the union to mount its case in 2005, when it alleged Gene's violated prevailing wage statutes by paying the worker and other employees supplying the project rates lower than union workers at the site.
The state law generally requires that employees working directly on government buildings and other public improvements must be paid at a rate similar to what union workers are paid for doing similar work in the region.
The Ohio 9th District Court of Appeals in Akron reversed the Medina County trial court's decision before the dispute moved to the state Supreme Court.
Justice Paul Pfeifer was the lone dissenter in the decision.
Once again we see Ohio's High Court rule against the lower , working, and middle class of Ohioans when it come to fair wages and pay. The Green Party opposes such court rulings!

Dennis Spisak
Mahoning Valley Green Party
Ohio Green Party
www.ohiogreens.org
www.votespisak.org/thinkgreen/