COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) 鈥?Amid a fight over union rights in Ohio, the state panel that controls millions of dollars in school construction voted Thursday to no longer support union-scale wage requirements on job sites.
Tim Keen, the chairman of the Ohio School Facilities Commission, said the move was aimed at "making our scarce dollars for school construction go just as far as possible."
Keen, the governor's budget director who heads the seven-member commission, said he did not know how much the state could save from the move. Still, he said, "I think any time you take steps to limit the pool of bidders for projects, you are going to find that you are paying more than you otherwise would."
Two of the three voting members on the commission passed a resolution that says the panel will reject any bids that include a prevailing-wage requirement or the union-friendly project labor agreements.
Keen and Robert Blair 鈥?Gov. John Kasich's administrative services director 鈥?voted to support the measure. State Superintendent Deborah Delisle also has a vote on the panel but was absent from the meeting.
Thirteen districts in the state have project labor agreements, and 15 districts pay "prevailing" wage, out of the roughly 150 districts the commission works with on projects, said commission spokesman Rick Savors.
Prevailing wage is essentially the going rate on local union projects. It varies from place to place but is generally higher than the market rate.
Keen said the panel would review those contracts already in place in light of Thursday's vote.
The commission has dispersed more than $9 billion for school construction and renovation since it was created in 1997.
The resolution brings the panel back in line with the policy it had before Democratic Gov. Ted Strickland took office in January 2007.
For a decade under Republican governors, commission rules didn't allow local districts to require prevailing wages or the project labor agreements on construction jobs. That changed under the Strickland administration, but those judgments were left up to the district.
In another wage matter being watched by unions, a House committee on Thursday cleared a bill to permit some private employers to offer time off rather than money to their employees who work overtime.
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|Unions are a cancer upon the economy of this nation.
In the private sector, the capitalist knows that when he negotiates with the union, if he gives away the store, he loses his shirt. In the public sector, the politicians who approve any deal have none of their own money at stake. On the contrary, the more favorably they dispose of union demands, the more likely they are to be the beneficiary of union largess in the next election. It's the perfect cozy setup.More GREAT union busting news?
Who would you rather pay if you had to choose between to equally qualified applicants the one that will do it for $5 dollars or the union worker that wants $205 to do the same job.
I applaud the Ohio School Facilities Commission, great job.
This is great news! No more squandering the peoples' money on expensive union labor if somebody is willing to do it better and cheaper.More GREAT union busting news?
Why do you think YOU need to have a third party use FORCE to prevent YOU making your own choices?
If I ran a school board and I needed to build a new school, I would shop for the best value for my money, union or not.
Its going to cost more now.
I'll be glad when Obama's henchmen are shut down.
Great news! I love to watch moochers on the run. Keep 'em coming!
Who is paying that bill?
glad to hear
F*CK UNIONS!
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