SECTION: NATIONAL; Pg. 1

LENGTH: 1029 words

HEADLINE: Jefferson approves prevailing wage law;
Contractors have time to fight change

BYLINE: By Pam Louwagie; West Bank bureau

BODY:
As some contractors sat steaming and some construction laborers rejoiced Thursday over the Jefferson Parish Council's controversial decision this week to impose local wage standards for workers on parish construction jobs, one thing became clear: The debate is far from over.

The law requiring prevailing wages -- averages or predominant wages determined by government statistics -- will not go into effect until June 1, leaving nearly six months for opponents to build a case against it.

"Are we going to assume that this is going to be it, and we're going to roll over? No," said Conrad Appel, vice president of the Jefferson Business Council and president of ConstructionSouth. "It's my personal opinion that the business council will want to follow up on this and pursue trying to have the ordinance rescinded." Construction associations will form a task force and gather data showing the costs of prevailing wage laws to taxpayers, said Anne Hock, executive director of Associated Builders and Contractors, New Orleans Bayou Chapter.

"We will be meeting within two weeks to come up with a game plan," Hock said.

Those in favor of the measure say it will cost the parish nothing. They say it will protect local contractors from out-of-state companies with lower-priced labor that might undercut their bids, and protect against shoddy work by cheaper, inexperienced labor.

Those against it argue that prevailing wage laws are based too heavily on union wages, driving up labor costs and increasing prices of taxpayer-financed roads, buildings and other infrastructure. They say government has no business interfering with how companies pay their employees.
 
Studying the issue

Opponents of the measure have a few options, including filing suit against its legality, as some groups have done in other parishes, or simply trying to sway votes on the Jefferson Parish Council to repeal it.

Parish Attorney Tom Wilkinson issued an opinion in May saying prevailing wage ordinances violate state public bid law.

To sway votes, opponents would have to prove that construction costs would increase.

Robert Hammond, a labor representative and proponent of the law, said nobody can determine that.

"We're going to tell you it costs the same. They're going to tell you it costs more," Hammond said, referring to labor representatives and contracting groups. "There are some cases of each. Nobody's going to win that one."

Councilman T.J. "Butch" Ward said officials can reach a conclusion with some research.

"Look purely at labor costs," said Ward, who abstained from voting. "There's a number out there."

Prevailing wages have been at the center of controversy for decades. The parish had a prevailing wage law along with the state in the late 1970s and 1980s. The Legislature repealed the state law in 1988 with the support of Gov. Buddy Roemer. The federal government still requires that prevailing wages be paid when federal money is used for contracts.

Some studies, such as one from State University of New York in 1996, claim no measurable difference. Others, such as a 1978 study by Tim Ryan at the University of New Orleans, say prevailing wages are higher than true average wages, costing "a great deal" to residents in Louisiana then.

Few know how the law will affect Jefferson Parish in today's economy, when a tight labor market has construction companies scrambling to fill jobs.

Parish administrators said they have been told prevailing wage laws could increase costs from 10 percent to 31 percent. Parish President Tim Coulon had suggested that before the council vote, the parish bid a handful of future contracts, both with the prevailing wage and without it, to see the difference in costs. He said the issue should be studied with representatives from various groups.

"I think the dilemma we face is that we don't know what the actual effect would be," Coulon told the council. "Let's put together a group and come back to this council."

The suggestions were not used, though.

Now that the law has passed, Coulon said he may ask contractors who have bid on projects recently to refigure their bids using prevailing wages to see if his staff can determine a price difference. His administration also will study how many extra staff members will be needed in a monitoring program to make sure contractors comply with the law.
 
A fast vote

Contractor organizations said Thursday that the measure was slipped into the agenda, then pushed through without council members truly understanding the issue.

Council Chairman Aaron Broussard has said he introduced the measure at the request of trade organizations. Though the organizations first came to him early this year, he said he did not put it on the council agenda until now because he wouldn't introduce an ordinance "unless I believe a majority of the council was prone to support it," he said.

Contractors were not notified that the issue was being considered, Hock said, even though many said council members typically call them about such issues.

"Nobody received a courtesy telephone call ahead of time to discuss this," Hock said.

And after three hours of contentious debate on the subject, many wondered why the council took a vote instead of deferring to a meeting early next year.

"Contractors are suspect on why it was pushed through," Hock said.

One councilman hinted during the meeting that things were going quickly.

"Don't railroad it," Ward told Broussard. "This is a very serious issue."

Broussard said he faults the organizations for failing to monitor council issues more closely. Trade unions have been talking to administrators and council members since the beginning of the year, he said. And the ordinance was read aloud, along with several others, at the end of the Nov. 15 council meeting.

He said he didn't move to defer the vote because he didn't think the two sides would ever reach consensus on a decades-old argument.

And for that reason, he won't be surprised to hear more about it from both groups, he said.

"This debate will never end," Broussard said. "As long as ordinances and laws can be amended, this debate will be fought."

LOAD-DATE: December 9, 2000