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.
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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.