Biden Administration’s New Rule Will Raise Wages for Construction Workers
In August, the U.S. Department of Labor released a new rule that will help raise wages for union workers on federal construction projects. The rule updates the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts Regulation to ensure the tens of billions of dollars of federal government infrastructure projects also support good wages and benefits for the hundreds of thousands of US workers who build them.
“Modernizing the Davis-Bacon and Related Acts (DBRA) is key to making sure that the jobs being created under the Biden-Harris administration’s Investing in America agenda are good jobs, and that workers get the fair wages and benefits they deserve on federally funded constructions projects across the nation,” said Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su in a statement. “This updated rule will create pathways to the middle class for more families and help level the playing field for high-road employers because companies who exploit their workers, or who don’t pay workers fairly, should never have a competitive advantage.”
Davis Bacon requires contractors and subcontractors on federally funded projects to pay their laborers and mechanics no less than the locally prevailing wages and fringe benefits for corresponding work on similar projects in the area. Davis-Bacon also directs the US Department of Labor to determine these locally prevailing wage rates, which are determined through a comprehensive survey of wages paid to workers of all crafts over the course of over a year.
The Biden administration’s new rule change includes the following:
- Creating new efficiencies in the prevailing wage update system and making sure prevailing wage rates keep up with actual wages which, over time, would mean higher wages for workers.
- Returning to the definition of “prevailing wage” used from 1935 to 1983 to ensure prevailing wages reflect actual wages paid to workers in the local community.
- Periodically updating prevailing wage rates to address out-of-date wage determinations.
- Providing broader authority to adopt state or local wage determinations when certain criteria are met
- Issuing supplemental rates for key job classifications when no survey data exists.
- Updating the regulatory language to better reflect modern construction practices.
- Strengthening worker protections and enforcement, including debarment and anti-retaliation provisions.
The department expects a significant increase in the numbers of industry workers due to the historic investments in federally funded construction projects made possible by legislation such as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IRA). The IRA is funding is putting union members to work building clean energy, power and water infrastructure improvements, pollution remediation, and renovation to the nation’s broadband and transportation infrastructures.
Piggybacking on Maine’s Prevailing Wage Improvements
The Biden administration Davis-Bacon rule change follows the passage of a series of new state laws that will improve prevailing wages.
“For decades, unions across the country have been trying to make prevailing wage more reflective of the realities present on the job site,” said Jason J. Shedlock, President of the Maine Building & Construction Trades Council and Regional Organizer for LIUNA New England. "Enter Joe Biden, who has marshalled the substantial resources at his disposal to put unions front and center; and by extension, ensuring a high road US workforce. His actions, coupled with the tremendous strides we've made on the statewide level will mean more Mainers in good union jobs."
One of the bills that the Building Trades and the Maine AFL-CIO worked together with our legislative allies to pass changed the definition of what a “public works” job is to vastly expand the number of jobs that fall under state prevailing wages. We also passed a law to improve the way prevailing wage data is collected to strengthen the position of union contractors to bid on federal projects.
"Next year in January when the federal government publishes their new Davis-Bacon rates, it'll be clear that we didn't just move the needle, we broke it right off, Shedlock said. "We fully expect for multiple unions' rates to prevail in 2024, and even more in 2025. And make no mistake, to have wages finally reflect the skill and profesionalism of our union sisters and brothers is a long-fought and well deserved win for our current and future members.”