BOLI survey will evaluate HVAC testing, balancing work
The Oregon Bureau of Labor and
Industries (BOLI) will survey con-
tractors who test, balance and adjust
HVAC (heating,ventilation and air
conditioning) control systems this
spring to determine whether or not
they should have their own wage clas-
sification under state prevailing wage
laws.
Testing and balancing of HVAC
controls follows the installation of the
HVAC system. Installation is per-
formed by Sheet Metal Workers.
Oregon’s prevailing wage law re-
quires employees on state-funded
construction projects be paid wage
rates comparable to wages paid for
similar work in the area where the
project is located. Thirty-one states
have such laws, and of 16 states that
BOLI contacted (including Washing-
ton), all recognize testing, balancing
and adjusting (TAB) work as covered
under the Sheet Metal classification.
Independent and nonunion TAB
contractors in Oregon say that TAB
work is an industry unto itself and that
it should either be exempt from pre-
vailing wage laws, or at least have its
own wage rate classification separate
from the Sheet Metal rate.
Portland-based Sheet Metal Work-
ers Local 16 disagrees.
“TAB is a big part of our industry,”
said Willy Myers, a business agent for
Local 16. He said the union’s HVAC
& Metals Institute offers TAB certifi-
cation classes to its apprentices and
journey-level workers and that all of
its signatory HVAC contractors per-
form TAB work.
The issue over TAB wages sur-
faced last summer when a nonunion
crew working for Beaverton-based
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Accurate Balancing Agency Inc. at the
Madras State Prison filed a wage
claim with BOLI citing prevailing
wage law requirements. A BOLI in-
vestigator was sent to the worksite in
Central Oregon, where he determined
that workers should be paid at the pre-
vailing wage rate for Sheet Metal
Workers. BOLI said the employees
were owed back-wages and penalties
totaling nearly $100,000.
Accurate Balancing Agency Inc.
cried “foul,” claiming that a BOLI de-
termination in 2003 stated that TAB
work was exempt from prevailing
wage laws. That, in turn, set off a
firestorm among open shop contrac-
tors, who threatened to sue the
agency. Some of those contractors
called state and federal lawmakers to
complain.
Labor Commissioner Dan Gardner
told the NW Labor Press that wage
rates for TAB workers on public-
works projects have never been chal-
lenged before.
Gardner said work is not subject to
prevailing wage laws if, “20 percent
or less is physical in nature.” He said
that when Accurate Balancing sought
a wage clarification in 2003, the
owner characterized the work as not
physical.
“Based on the 2003 characteriza-
tion of the work provided by Accurate
Balancing, our agency provided an
appropriate response, (that it was ex-
empt)” Gardner said.
However, when the BOLI investi-
gator was called in, he witnessed work
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Gardner said BOLI can make
companies pay up to six years in back
wages if workers are improperly clas-
sified.
With a complaint on file, Gardner
decided to appoint a subcommittee of
the Prevailing Wage Rate Advisory
Committee to look at the matter. The
Advisory Committee is part of BOLI,
established in 1995 by the Oregon
Legislature to assist the labor commis-
sioner in administering prevailing
wage laws. The subcommittee con-
sisted of an equal number of union
and open shop HVAC and TAB con-
tractors, union and open shop reps,
and industry lobbyists.
Gardner said, the subcommittee
agreed to compile a survey of the TAB
industry. A new committee is now
meeting to craft the details of what
that survey will look like. Gardner
doesn’t expect the survey to be dis-
tributed for at least 90 days.
NOTE: The BOLI investigation at
Madras prompted Sheet Metal Work-
ers Local 16 to file a similar com-
plaint in Washington State on behalf
of employees working for Accurate
Balancing Agency Inc. It seems that
some of the employees at Madras had
also worked on public works projects
in Washington for basically the same
wages they were getting in Oregon.
An investigation by the Washing-
ton Department of Labor and Indus-
tries’ Employment Standards Section
found the company paid workers be-
tween $10 and $20 an hour for work
that was supposed to be paid between
$23.29 and $36.74 an hour. The com-
pany was ordered to pay 11 workers
$34,283 in back wages and benefits.
Three Carpenters locals endorse
John Kroger for attorney general
Carpenters Union Locals 247 in Portland, 1065 in Salem and Exterior and In-
terior Specialists Local 2154 (drywall hangers) have endorsed John Kroger for
Oregon attorney general in the Democratic primary.
Kroger, a Lewis & Clark Law School professor and a former federal prosecutor
is seeking the post being vacated by Democrat Hardy Myers, who is retiring and
will not seek a fourth term in office.
“We need an aggressive attorney general that will defend the rights of workers
and prosecute those that abuse our laws,” said Joe Baron, chairman of the
Metrowide Endorsement Committee for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and
Joiners and a member of Carpenters Local 247. “We need someone that will take
a proactive and visible role. John Kroger will be that kind of attorney general.”
“These endorsements show that people want an attorney general who will fight
for every single Oregonian,” Kroger said about the endorsements. “Every day in of-
fice I’m going to stand up for workers when labor laws are being violated and I’m
going to work closely with the business community to build a healthy and sustain-
able economy.”
Kroger also has backing from former Gov. John Kitzhaber, and City Commis-
sioners Erik Sten, Dan Saltzman and Randy Leonard.
His opponent in the Democratic primary is three-term state Rep. Greg Macpher-
son of Lake Oswego. No Republicans have filed to run for the office.
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PAGE 8
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS
FEBRUARY 1, 2008