Posts tagged federal contracts
US court upholds Biden minimum wage order for federal contractors
February 5, 2025 // The panel, which reversed a judge in Texas who had blocked Biden's order, said a 1949 federal law allows the president to regulate federal contracting in any way he deems necessary to promote economy and efficiency. The decision upholds an order from Biden, a Democrat, but could be a boon to his Republican successor, President Donald Trump, if he uses his powers over federal procurement to implement other parts of his agenda such as eliminating corporate diversity initiatives.
Counterpoint: Davis-Bacon Requires Pork Spending, Costs Taxpayers Billions
October 23, 2023 // The Davis-Bacon Act was passed in 1931 and was initially meant to counter a Depression-era practice of literally busing in workers from a lower-paying region so employers didn’t have to hire local workers who would not work for the wages being offered. This practice benefitted many workers, frequently African-Americans, who lived in poor regions with little work. Busing in unskilled labor is rarely a factor with the law, as most federal projects involve skilled labor. The present-day purpose behind the Davis-Bacon Act is to boost unions. The Labor Department’s Wage and Hour Division is the entity that surveys businesses and determines the prevailing wage for these types of projects. This wage mirrors what companies with collective bargaining contracts — union wages — pay their workers. Unions that drive up their members’ wages are thus protected from the economic consequences of doing that if their business involves federal contracts because non-unionized businesses will have to pay the same wages and, therefore lose any wage-price advantage. The AFL-CIO is one of the main boosters of the law, unsurprisingly.
To afford historic labor contract, UC considers cutting TAs, graduate student admissions
February 1, 2023 // The full financial cost of the labor settlements between UC and 48,000 academic workers who help power the vaunted teaching and research engine are still being tallied. But preliminary estimates have dealt a “financial shock to the system,” said Rosemarie Rae, UC Berkeley chief financial officer. The UC Office of the President estimates that the increased costs for salary, benefits and tuition across all 10 campuses will be between $500 million and $570 million over the life of the contracts. Individual campuses have come up with their own calculations: At UC Santa Barbara, for instance, the Academic Senate chair estimated that the cost of pay hikes alone could spiral to more than $53 million over three years.
White House to host union organizers at Amazon, Starbucks
May 5, 2022 // The meeting is to discuss "their extraordinary efforts to organize unions in their workplaces, and how their efforts can inspire workers across the country to make the choice to join or organize a union," the official added.
Sanders pressures Biden on Amazon unions: ‘The time for talk is over’
April 27, 2022 // The Vermont senator sent Biden a Tuesday letter, obtained by POLITICO, asking the president to cut off federal contracts to Amazon until the massive company stops what he calls its “illegal anti-union activity.” As the Senate Budget Committee chair, Sanders will also hold a hearing next week dedicated to calculating how many federal contracts go to companies that are fighting back against unionization efforts, with a focus on Amazon.