By: Diane Benjamin
Who runs this state? It isn’t the people paying the bills!
See this site: https://www.illinois.gov/idol/Laws-Rules/CONMED/Pages/Rates.aspx
This link shows how much government if FORCED to pay in McLean County for labor: https://www.illinois.gov/idol/Laws-Rules/CONMED/rates/2015/january/MCLEAN99.htm
It is the law in Illinois that any project funded by taxpayers has to pay the prevailing wage rate. Try that at your job! Free market competition doesn’t exist. Somebody willing to complete a job for less is cut out of the process.
I can see blood shooting out of people’s eye already: Union labor is better! Really? Explain the 7-year-old parking deck in Bloomington that required almost $1,000,000 in repairs? How many roads are resurfaced over and over because they fall apart way too fast? Maybe government tells the contractor what surface they want, maybe government goes cheap because the labor costs make good surfaces impossible to afford. How many roads did the $10,000,000 Bloomington borrowed last year fix? How many still need work? How many YEARS will it take?
Look again at the State website. Taxpayers are forced to pay bureaucrats at the Department of Labor to update all the rates for every Illinois county every month. Complaints about wages paid must also be handled.
Gov Rauner is trying to get cities to pass Right To Work for themselves. If Right to Work is on the agenda union members descend in mass to intimidate elected officials. Lexington was a victim last week, Pontiac this week. Whenever any legislation is considered in Springfield to help put taxpayers back in charge of the state, SEIU buses people to Springfield to throw a fit. Legislators and Council members are spineless against mass demonstrations.
This is what the Livingston County Board faced:
Yesterday’s post: http://blnnews.com/2015/04/21/what-do-the-unions-want/
Figured out what the unions want?
-No Right to Work Zones
-Government building programs so they have jobs. (at your expense)
-Union dues to buy off politicians
Citizens are just as intimidated by angry union members as the politicians. When Rauner campaigned here a small group of union members protested inside the room. They had no problem interrupting Rauner and creating a nuisance. Their right to disrupt the room took precedence over the rest of the rooms right to hear.
Unions have more control of City Councils and Springfield than the citizens. Nothing will change unless the politicians are changed. Bloomington allowed unions to elect their City Council a few weeks ago, Right to Work will not be an issue here.
Have you reserved your U-Haul yet?
There are some really good people that are union members. They are talented, hard working, and honest. But there are also some members of those same unions that are lazy, do sloppy work, and have a strong sense of entitlement. Like many groups this is what you get. Unfortunately though most of the good and the bad are led by fairly well intentioned idiots that continue to support politicians that are their own worst enemy. Currently consider the Obama fast track of the TTP. If this passes the unions will face tougher times for sure. The blind lead the blind.
Is it that difficult for unions to see they are funding their own demise? Where were the public unions when government wasn’t funding their pensions? Hint: Giving them more money.
When I was on a school board we had to put out bids for projects but was forced to pay the prevailing wages. Does anyone see a problem here? I do, no wage competition.
In my “real” world there is no such thing as a prevailing wage. There is what is called the market rate which fluctuates. No employer is forced to comply to pay the market rate. An employer pays what they feel you are worth. Also no employer is forced to pay for training or education or even a pension.
As I stated in a previous post you or I could never afford to build a home using union wages. The government forces me and you to pay union wages for their projects which is wrong to do.
It really used to get under my skin when we had contract negotiations while on the school board. The first thing they would do is say so and so district is paying this and we think we should get the same or more. Could you imagine me walking into State Farm as an employee and saying Caterpillar pays this so I want that much and more. Why they would likely say there is the door go to Caterpillar.
Yes. We certainly don’t want to pay the “going rate” for a job or a prevailing wage if we can help it, especially when the Chinese government is sending over contractors to build infrastructure in the US, with US taxpayer money. Let the free market sort it out!
Or maybe those pesky non-union shops with American workers would like a shot too.