UNITED STATES: The Biden administration plans to strengthen union-friendly regulations on federally funded construction projects to increase salaries and worker safeguards. This may anger trade associations, who worry the reforms could prevent billions of dollars in federal investment.
Vice President Kamala Harris will visit Philadelphia to commemorate the labour reforms at a union hall, marking the latest in a series of trips between Harris and Biden to court unions.
The federal government is spending billions on building new highways and bridges as well as green energy and computer chip sectors. The Davis-Bacon Act modifications aim to increase salaries and protect workers, ensuring fair wages and good wages. Senior administration officials emphasize the importance of these rules.
The Davis-Bacon Act, passed in 1931, sets minimum wage floors for construction projects receiving half or full federal funding. The administration applied to over a million employees on projects worth $200 billion. President Joe Biden ordered a review of labour laws, and the Labour Department recommended a new regulation in March last year. The new regulation will begin working after 60 days.
Trade organizations have criticized the Davis-Bacon Act’s prevailing wage regulations, arguing they are burdensome and deter small businesses from bidding on government contracts.
The rule now uses wages paid to at least 30% of area workers, reducing the 50% criterion set by Ronald Regan in 1983. A senior administration official claims raising the wage floor will increase the prevailing wage rate.
The Labour Department can adopt prevailing wages from state and local governments, issue wage decisions for insufficient data, and update outdated wage rates without polling contractors.
The new law strengthens the government’s ability to withhold funds from contractors to reimburse lost earnings, adding an anti-retaliation provision to contract agreements.
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