Republicans picked a fight they didn’t need when some decided to repeal the state’s prevailing wage law. If it isn’t broken, don’t try to fix it. The law, which sets a minimum wage for workers on large public construction projects, ensures that all workers on these projects are being paid fairly, whether they’re in a union or not. Repealing the law, which some Republicans want to do, isn’t a direct attack on just unions but it would surely lower the wages of non-represented employees as well as unionized workers.
Even though the current crop of Wisconsin Republicans has never seen an anti-worker or anti-union law it didn’t like, the GOP is in disarray over this fight and they may not even have the votes to pass it in either chamber—although they could shove it into the state budget.
Republicans usually get their anti-worker legislative proposals from the right-wing, American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) and frame this legislation, such as right to work, as being about “freedom” or promoting the free market. But this time they’re being more blunt about what ending the prevailing wage would do. Even Assembly Speaker Robin Vos (R-Rochester), who’s about as anti-worker as you can get, let the cat out of the bag when he told WISN the repeal is “an actual cut in wages to an awful lot of folks around the state” and “one that would reduce wages.”
It seems that Republicans are finally realizing that cutting the wages of their neighbors and constituents may not be a good thing to do both for their neighbors, obviously, but also for the state’s economy. They didn’t get it when they slashed the wages of unionized public employees, professors and public school teachers, but they may be seeing the light now. Of course the Republicans are worried about the political fallout, because the trades are full of Republicans or conservative Democrats who often vote Republican. But they should also be worried about the economic fallout as well. Wisconsin’s economy is struggling in many ways because Gov. Scott Walker’s Act 10 cut public employees’ wages, shrinking the state’s economy. Cutting the wages of more middle-class Wisconsinites would further harm the state’s economy as workers try to get by on a smaller paycheck, which in turn affects the entire community.
Republicans grossly overreached and miscalculated when they decided to take on the prevailing wage law. We hope that a few Republican legislators have the courage to break ranks with their leadership and vote against this legislation since repealing it would be a terrible thing for households around the state and for the state’s economy.
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