March 2006

View of union members and their families at the Paducah Rally at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 181 union hall

More pictures below

Paducah rally for prevailing wage draws 500

By BERRY CRAIG

AFT-Kentucky/KEA-NEA

Gov. Ernie Fletcher “has done more to damage the labor-management relationships in this state than anybody I have ever known in my life,” says Larry Roberts, state director of the Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council.

“The governor cannot tell the truth about prevailing wage and other issues important to working families, but I will share the truth with you today about prevailing wage,” Roberts told about 500 trade unionists and their friends and families at a Feb. 11 rally at the Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 181 union hall in Paducah .

Fletcher wants to eliminate the state prevailing wage law on public construction projects. Roberts, who is based in Frankfort , called the governor's proposal a “low road plan to low wage jobs.”

The Paducah gathering was one in a series of rallies across the state called “Operation High Road.” The building trades are sponsoring the gatherings in several Kentucky cities.

“ Operation High Road ” will culminate March 7 with a rally in Frankfort .

Fletcher hopes Kentucky will join other Southern states that don't have prevailing wage laws. “I have nothing against our Southern brothers and sisters,” Roberts said. “But they don't make the wages we make.

“They don't have the health care we have. They do not have the pension plans we have.”

Fletcher said getting rid of the prevailing wage law will save $60 million in construction costs. “Where does that saving come from?” Roberts asked.

“From working people,” answered State Rep. J.R. Gray, one of four state representatives who came to the rally.

Roberts agreed. “It will come out of the paychecks of the working people in this state – the men and women who build our schools, our roads, our public buildings.”

Roberts also challenged Fletcher's claim that construction wages in Kentucky account for 38 percent of total construction costs. “His calculations are nothing but back of the envelope calculations,” Roberts said.

Roberts cited current U.S. Census data that shows construction wages are slightly less than 20 percent of construction costs. “If you roll in fringe benefits it is approximately 24 percent of the total cost of construction.”

Roberts added that, on average, construction wage costs have been declining for several years. “As our skills improve and our wages improve, contractors are able to invest more in equipment and technology that make us more productive. So as you increase wages and increase skills and the contractors invest more in equipment and machinery, there is value added.”

Roberts said Fletcher likes to give examples of how he says the prevailing wage law adds millions of dollars of extra cost to building new schools such as Belfry High School in Pike County .

“The governor did not tell you the truth about Belfry,” Roberts said. “Lloyd Fields, the supervisor of construction for Belfry and for the Pike County Board of Education, said ball fields and extra construction added to the cost.”

Larry Sanderson, Local 184 business manager and a veteran union leader, helped fire up the crowd. “Larry gave you the details and gave you the facts and figures and did one heck of a job,” Sanderson said. “But it's my job to reach into your heart, reach into your chest and rip it out and raise your blood pressure.”

Sanderson praised union pioneers who are “buried in graveyards all around this state. Are we going to let them down? Are we going to fail to fight against this attack on our way of life?”

“No! No!' came shouts from the crowd, which jammed the union hall at 1332 Broadway and spilled outside onto the snowy parking lot.

“Were we to do so, a million ghosts wearing dusty and tattered overalls and scarred up steel toed boots and hard hats would rise from their granite stones shouting to us, ‘Don't let the blood, sweat and tears that we shed and the sacrifices we made be in vain. You must save the union.'

Sanderson added, “Brothers and sisters, it's time for us to pay our debt. Those people in those graveyards paid theirs.”

Sanderson said Fletcher “has declared war on organized labor with his plan to repeal prevailing wage and pass right-to-work legislation. He has challenged your strength and courage, and you're not going to take it are you?”

“No! No!” came more cries from the crowd.

State Reps. Fred Nesler, D-Mayfield; Mike Cherry, D-Princeton; Gray, D-Benton; and Frank Rasche, D-Paducah also spoke. Paducah City Commissioner Robert Coleman and McCracken County Judge-Executive Danny Orazine followed the state lawmakers to the microphone.

County Judge-Executives Mike Miller of Marshall County , John Roberts of Carlisle County and Tony Smith of Graves County made brief remarks from the crowd.

Sanderson also cited backing from absent politicians including State Sen. Dorsey Ridley, D-Henderson, and State Rep. Steven Rudy, R-West Paducah plus Judge-Executives Chris Lasher of Livingston County and Van Knight of Caldwell County .

Several other elected officials and candidates for office attended the rally.

Paducah City Commissioner Robert Coleman	State Rep. Fred Nesler, D-Mayfield	State Rep. J.R. Gray of Benton

Return to Western Kentucky AFL-CIO Area Council Home Page

All pictures on this page copyrighted ©2006, Berry Craig.