President of the North America’s Building Trades Union, Sean McGarvey, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast to discuss the improvements made to the Davis Bacon Act. McGarvey discussed the history of the Act and how it will impact the clean energy future.
The Davis Bacon Act was recently updated after nearly 40 years without any changes. The bill was originally implemented in 1931 to establish the requirement for paying the local prevailing wages on public works projects for laborers and mechanics. It was updated once around 1982, which weakened the requirements. McGarvey explained how the changes hurt workers and their wages. The new changes have reversed the weakening of wage rates and made it so high-road contractors can compete in the bidding process.
The changes to the Davis Bacon Act have been implemented, and there have already been contracts impacted by the changes. McGarvey believes the 1982 changes helped shrink the middle class, but could recover thanks to the Biden Administration’s changes. McGarvey also pointed to the new penalties for any infractions of the act and explained how NABTU can now better police these potential issues.
The federal government has pushed new energy technologies for 20 years by providing tax credit programs for new energy developments. The U.S. Treasury Department just put out guidance reminding companies seeking tax credits that they must pay Davis Bacon Wage standards on the job. This is new, as previous tax credit programs had no requirements around wages and safety standards, McGarvey said.
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