West Virginia Roads Are Failing Standards – Prevailing Wage Will Bring Change

Giant potholes, deteriorating roads and landslips have landed West Virginia a “D” grade on its road infrastructure report card created by the American Society of Civil Engineers. In the most recent “Infrastructure Report Card” study, the American Society of Civil Engineers noted that “much of the state’s infrastructure… has deteriorated, while new construction, replacement, rehabilitation and repair efforts have not kept pace with the needs.” Bad Continue Reading »

Building Trades Apprenticeship Programs – The Pathway to a Better Life

In America, we encourage and celebrate a college education. College may be an option for those with the desire and family resources a university degree requires. But a new national study finds that union apprenticeship programs in the construction trades result in a quality of life equal to that of a college graduate. The Illinois Economic Policy Institute found that graduates of joint labor-management apprenticeship programs in the construction industry ... Continue Reading »

Hospitals Can Rebound from Covid-19 with Prevailing Wage

West Virginia Hospitals Are Struggling

The Mountain State has one of the highest rates of sickness and death from COVID-19 in the country. The Delta variant has stressed our already strained health care system, which has seen small hospitals close and pushed larger facilities to the brink of collapse. Covid-19 has added to the cost of running a hospital. Needs for personal protective equipment have increased, as have ... Continue Reading »

Bright Futures Made Possible by Prevailing Wage

There’s a way to provide a future for young West Virginians, ensure they have good-paying jobs, and prepare them for the future. It’s called prevailing wage. Prevailing wage is the minimum hourly wage that contractors working on government-funded infrastructure projects pay local workers. Prevailing wage ensures local workers are paid fairly – based on a regional survey of rates for their particular level of skill and experience. Local contractors ... Continue Reading »

Prevailing Wage Will Reunite Families and Raise Our Standard of Living

By Providing a Pathway to a More Secure Life

Prevailing wage ensures that West Virginians get the first shot at good-paying jobs on tax-funded public works projects. It also provides health care coverage and retirement benefits to those working on these projects. So instead of being forced to leave West Virginia to find work, our family members can live and work here at home where they belong. Prevailing ... Continue Reading »

Restoring Fairness

Fairness is a core principle for any true-blue West Virginian. Fair pay for a good day’s work, a fair shot at a good job, and fair treatment in the workplace. Fairness is a value we cherish, and for many years a law known as Prevailing Wage ensured fairness for all Mountaineers. Then in 2016, without proper study, our short-sighted legislative leadership repealed prevailing wage, and thousands ... Continue Reading »

The Law Of Unintended Consequences

It’s called the law of unintended consequences. When it comes to government, it refers to unanticipated effects of legislative activity. Economists have long been aware we must heed this law to avoid a domino effect of lousy results from new policies. But, as a Forbes writer once observed, “for just as long, politicians and popular opinion have largely ignored it.” Consider House Bill 2008, which our state Legislature passed into ... Continue Reading »

Want To Fix Potholes? Start With A Living Wage For West Virginia Families.

If you ask a West Virginian what they’d change about our state, there’s a high chance you would hear about potholes, crumbling roads, or poor internet connection.

They’re common complaints among many who live in the Wild and Wonderful. And they’re partially to blame for our population declining as young adults seek less complicated, more lucrative areas of the country to put down roots. ... Continue Reading »

Without ‘Prevailing Wage’ WV Hospitals Closing Doors

West Virginia’s Hospitals Are Struggling

As a state with one of the oldest and most chronically ill populations in the country, West Virginia hospitals and rural health care centers are crucial parts of our communities – but care comes at a cost. Approximately 1.1 million of West Virginia’s 1.7 million residents are covered by public insurance policies, like Medicaid, Medicare, and PEIA. However, those policies do not cover the ... Continue Reading »

WVU Adds Associate Degree Program for Carpenter Apprentices

Excerpt: A partnership among West Virginia University, WVU Potomac State College, WVU Extension Service Institute for Labor Studies and Research, the West Virginia Carpenters Training Center and the West Virginia State Building and Construction Trades Council will allow apprentices to further their skills and education through a new associate degree program. This program will be free to apprentices based on current state-funding opportunities, such as the West Virginia Invests Grant ... Continue Reading »