SECTION: OP-ED; Pg. A26

LENGTH: 191 words

HEADLINE: The Going Rate

BODY:


In recent articles on school construction I have noticed a recurring error concerning the federal prevailing wage law, also known as the Davis-Bacon Act. Contrary to The Post's reporting [news story, Oct. 1], the Davis-Bacon Act does not require the payment of union scale wages on all federal construction projects. The law requires the payment of the locally prevailing or average wage found through a wage and benefit survey of a geographic area. If the average wage for a job classification is the minimum wage that is often found in the southern and rural areas, then the Davis-Bacon wage is the minimum wage. This is true even if the union wage is many times more. In an area where union-level wages dominate for certain crafts and job classifications, the wage should reflect the majority of workers surveyed and be at a rate similar or equal to the union level.

In 1999 nearly 75 percent of published Davis-Bacon wage rates were not union rate but a nonunion lower wage scale.

Published rates for the various areas around the nation can be found at the U.S. Debartment of Labor's Web site.

STAN KOLBE

Washington

LOAD-DATE: October 30, 2000