Word: wage
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Opponents of Question 2 on the statewide ballot question the accuracy of a Boston Globe poll published Sunday that said 49 percent of Massachusetts residents want to repeal the prevailing wage...
Robin Leeds, director of outreach at the Committee for the Quality of Life, which is campaigning against the question, said the poll asked respondents if they thought construction workers on state projects should receive the "union wage," and not the "prevailing wage," thus skewing the results...
Orren said the poll was not meant to predictthe vote on the referendum, but "to tap theunderlying sentiment" of the voters. He said itwas "fairer to the public" to use the adjective,"union" instead of "prevailing," because it is"clearer to the people what `union wage' means."The polling question defined what is usuallycalled the prevailing wage but did not use theterm, Orren said...
This is a law protecting the workers. If it did not exist, construction companies could submit lower bids on projects by cutting their employees' wages. Construction costs, except for labor, are fixed, so the only way to cut overall costs is to pay lower wages. Repealing the law would create larger profits for contractors but cut the earnings of their employees. It is the public works equivalent to cutting the minimum wage requirement, a return to days when labor had no government protection against abuse from self-interested employers...
Advocates of the referendum try to claim that certain towns cannot afford to pay a state-levied wage rate, but in doing so they distort the actual purpose of the law. The law does not establish a single rate for construction projects but prohibits the state or local government from paying less than is normally paid workers for jobs in that particular area, simply insuring that construction workers get paid a fair rate for their work...