Prevailing wage could change

The prevailing wage for state contract bids is based on the rates most commonly reported by local employers for various trades through a Department of Labor and Industry process.

The mode — or the wage most commonly paid to workers in an area — is determined as the prevailing wage the state will pay for its projects.

Rep. Peggy Scott (R-Andover) sponsors HF1476, which proposes to change the formula for calculating the prevailing wage to the average of wages paid in an area, not the mode. It would also lift the eight-hour day, but retain the 40-hour week as a basis for overtime pay.

The House Commerce and Regulatory Reform Committee approved the bill April 26. It goes next to the House Jobs and Economic Development Finance Committee. Sen. John Pederson (R-St. Cloud) sponsors a companion, SF1199, which awaits action by the Senate Finance Committee.

Scott said the new method could save the state money and it would more accurately gauge the norm than the current method of choosing the hourly rates most often paid by local employers. A Minnesota Taxpayers League study suggests that a different method of calculation based on Department of Employment and Economic Development average wages would save between 7.4 percent and 10 percent.

Opponents said workers’ wages are the economic backbone of middle class families and communities. “One reason for public works is so we can get some of those wages in our communities and make them strong,” said Rep. Mike Nelson (DFL-Brooklyn Park).

The bill drew a phalanx of workers in hard hats and safety vests who lined the hearing room walls and filled the seats to oppose the proposed change.

Truck driver Chari Wilson, a member of Teamsters Local 120, is her family’s breadwinner and mother of a child with special needs.

“I did what I had to do to pay my mortgage and put food on the table and provide health insurance for my child,” she said. “Every cent literally counts. What may look like minor changes to the prevailing wage law could negatively affect me and my son.”