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About Northwest labor press. (Portland , Ore.) 1987-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 4, 2017)
NORTHWEST LABOR PRESS | August 4, 2017 | PAGE 5 U.S. House votes down effort to weaken federal prevailing wage SW Washington’s Jamie Herrera Beutler votes to cut Davis-Bacon Portland delivers message on USPS’ 242nd birthday Ben Franklin (above right), the nation’s first postmaster general, joined more than two dozen postal workers and customers at the Main Post Office in Northwest Portland July 26 to cele- brate the 242nd birthday of the U.S. Postal Service. They also gathered to protest job cuts that are causing longer lines and delay of mail delivery. “We need a revolutionary postmaster general who will fight for the postal service, against the tyranny of the privatizers, against the oppression of the union busters,” said Franklin, played by retired letter carrier David Medford. “We need revolutionary postal workers who will spread the alarm to every corner of this na- tion.” USPS has eliminated dozens of jobs of retail and mail processing clerks in the Portland area this year, and dozens more are targeted as part of announced cuts that would reduce staffing by 12,000 nationwide. ‘Franklin’ called for a postal service that will deliver on time, six days a week, door to door: “We need post of- fices that are open at night ... that provide bank- ing services, one-stop government services, and internet access …. We the people have a con- stitutionally-mandated post office which we must defend for our children and our children’s children.” And while USPS has experienced a decline in letter mail, the Postal Service has emerged as the mainstay of parcel delivery, as consumers move their retail purchases to online providers. Postal supporters said USPS finan- cial losses are due to a 2006 Congressional mandate to fund retiree benefits in advance. Union leaders say USPS has been breaking even or making a profit on operations for the last five years. The U.S. Postal Service was chartered by the Continental Congress on July 26, 1775 — also known as Postal Heritage Day. PORTLAND PUBLIC SCHOOLS 501 NDIXON ST, PORTLAND, OR 97227 • PHONE: 503.916.3399 Join Our Team! Why work with PPS Nutrition Services? • • • • Work with kids and food Day shifts, no nights, regular work schedule No weekends or holidays Training provided Call 503 916-3271 for more information. Applicants must be fingerprinted, pass criminal record check and obtain Multnomah County Food Handlers Certification. This institution is an equal opportunity provider. The U.S. House of Representa- tives on July 13 voted down an amendment to the National De- fense Authorization Act that would have reduced prevailing wages on federally-funded con- struction projects. The amend- ment failed 183 no to 242 yes. Fifty-one Republicans joined all voting Democrats in voting no. Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler (R- Wash.), was the only member of Congress from Washington or Oregon to vote “yes” on the amendment. Enacted in 1931, the Davis- Bacon Act requires that local prevailing wages, determined by the Labor Department, be paid to construction workers – union and nonunion – toiling on federally funded projects such as highways, bridges, airports and subway systems. The amendment to weaken Davis-Bacon rules in the Na- tional Defense Authorization Act was made by Republican Paul Gosar of Arizona. It would have required that wage deter- minations be made with statis- tically sampled information from the Bureau of Labor Sta- tistics — instead of the current method, which is based on em- ployer surveys. Leading the debate against the amendment was Rep. David Nor- cross (D-N.J.), who is a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), a former Building Trades Council president in southern New Jersey, and co-chairman of the Congres- sional Building Trades Caucus. “The prevailing wage is based on surveys of local wages and benefits, not whether there is a union or not,” Norcross said. “This (amendment) is about cut- ting wages in your local com- munity.” He asked colleagues: “Why would you ever want to go back and say, ‘I want to hurt the people I represent?’ ” The bill itself, H.R. 2810 Na- tional Defense Authorization Act, passed the House July 14 by 344- 81. The bill would authorize and prioritize funding totaling $696 billion for the Department of De- fense and military activities and construction. The bill now heads to the Senate. Nonunion concrete contractor gets prison sentence in wage fraud case Jeffery Hurliman, owner of nonunion Westwind Concrete, is serving a two-month federal prison sentence for lying to fed- eral investigators in connection with prevailing wage violations. Westwind Concrete, based in Cloverdale, Oregon, was a sub- contractor on a 2014 construc- tion project at the Marquis Tu- alatin assisted living center. All construction workers on the proj- ect were supposed to be paid the federal prevailing wage because the project received loan guaran- tees from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Develop- ment (HUD). But a Department of Labor investigation of four HUD-funded projects founds vi- olations at Marquis Tualatin. Carpenters, ironworkers, labor- ers, and cement masons were be- ing paid less than they were legally entitled to. Investigators at the Labor Department Wage and Hour Division found that Westwind Concrete owed a total of $93,000 in back wages to 27 workers. Thomas Silva, director of the Portland office of the Labor De- partment’s Wage and Hour Divi- sion, says the project’s general contractor, Prevailing Construc- tion NW, LLC, notified all sub- contractors of the discrepancy, and paid subcontractors the dif- ference. Hurliman turned in certifica- tions that he claimed were from his employees attesting to having received the back wages. But of- ficials in the division’s Portland office noted discrepancies on the proofs of payment. The Labor Department’s Office of Inspector General investigated, and found that the certifications were falsi- fied and that when Hurliman learned about the investigation, he offered money to employees to lie to investigators. That led to federal criminal prosecution. In January 2017, Hurliman pleaded guilty to witness tamper- ing and providing false state- ments to the government, both felonies, and began his sentence on June 15, 2017. He will be on supervised release for three years following his release from prison on Aug. 15, 2017. DOL is seeking to debar West- wind from future government contracts.
