This was emailed to me by a fellow Democrat from Adam's County, I think it makes some great points:
HIT THEM WHEN THEY’RE DOWN
Hitting someone when they are down is poor sportsmanship in sports and politics. It is particularly horrible when is comes to taking advantage of the poor and unfortunate people that are victims of Hurricane Katrina. President Bush signed an executive order that lets States pay substandard wages for cleanup and repair works to their neighborhood and homes. The suspension applies to more than 100 counties and Parishes in the States hit by Katrina - indefinitely, for all contracts, whether or not they are meant to clean up and rebuild devastated areas.
The order cancels "prevailing wages," which assure that workers on Federal jobs receive hourly pay akin to workers doing similar work in those areas. Prevailing wages in the Deep South States are barely above poverty: $9.55 an hour. We're talking about slave wages here for a desperate group of workers washed out of their homes, out of their jobs, out of the world as they knew it.
Count on seeing workers lose wages in hundreds of Federal contracts that have nothing whatsoever to do with hurricane damage. In addition to the devastated Golf Coast of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, President Bush included the counties of Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe in Florida, which are areas not devastated by the storm.Count on seeing the poverty rates in these areas, already among the highest in the nation before Katrina, rise sharply with no relief from Federal reconstruction efforts.
President Bush's stated reason for suspending the prevailing wage law is to "cut red tape" and "relieve the burden from the backs of taxpayers" in this emergency. The "red tape" comes in the form of wage records that employers in Federal contracts had to keep, until now.
Does the president have no shame? By suspending the Davis-Bacon laws in the areas devastated by the hurricane, he is already taking advantage of those suffering. Davis-Bacon laws require Federal contractors to pay laborers and mechanics at least the prevailing-wage rates (and fringe benefits) that other similar workers in the area receive. Once again, wealthy contractors, who are being awarded contracts without competitive bidding that guarantee them a certain profit regardless of how much they spend, will reap millions from this disaster. At the same time, the Americans doing the hard work of restoring these ravaged cities are forced to live without even a basic living wage.
And now, in the cruelest irony, President Bush is saying that in New Orleans—where a quarter of the city is poor, 40 percent of its children live in families below the poverty level and the prevailing wage for construction labor is less than $10.00 per hour—that working families should suffer a pay cut as they rebuild their destroyed communities. By suspending the Davis-Bacon Act, President Bush is forcing more people into the poverty as we have so dramatically witnessed in the past week and hastening the economic recovery of these ravaged areas.
President Bush also suspended Federal rules to allow FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers to extend no-bid contracts to corporations engaged in the rebuilding. In doing so, he also allowed companies with close political ties to get to the front of the line.
Through these actions, the President revealed that despite all the rhetoric about compassion toward the victims of Katrina, the administration's crony capitalism and corporate agenda is never far below the surface.
FEMA and the Army Corps of Engineers quickly suspended rules in order to allow no-bid contracts and speed up reconstruction. Politically connected firms like Haliburton, Fluor Corporation, and Bechtel have already scooped up hundreds of millions of dollars for post-Katrina.
Bush also revoked rules prohibiting companies with a track record of violating federal labor laws, as well as environmental, consumer protection, civil rights and tax laws by signing outsource employment contracts with Federal agencies.
Now the President is taking advantage of the Katrina tragedy to get rid of workers' protections in favor of higher profits for favored corporations. The suspension of the Davis-Bacon Act is an open invitation to employers to hire people who are desperate for jobs, and pay them low wages.
Indeed, suspending Davis-Bacon is the exactly the wrong move at this time. What the devastated areas need are people with jobs that pay decent wages so they can contribute to stimulating the local economy. Federal funds should be used to help get families back on their feet, not to exacerbate their suffering.
Arthur M. Sachs
Arkdale, WI
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