New rule rewards good guy employers

The Clinton Administration has finally put into place a proposal that promotes employer compliance with labor laws and protects workers' right to organize.

The new mandate, in the works for two years, links the award of federal contracts to contractors' compliance with labor, taxation, employment, environmental, antitrust or consumer protection laws. The business community claims the rules will result in blacklisting and give union labor and unfair advantage.

AFL-CIO Building Trades Department President Robert Georgine said the rule would "prevent habitual corporate lawbreakers" from getting corporate contracts. "For too long, companies with outrageous health and safety records and flagrant violations of our labor, environmental and employment laws have been allowed to contract freely with the government and profit from taxpayer dollars."

Industry pay hikes continue moderation

New U.S. construction labor agreements are averaging $1.11 per hour or 3.9 percent in 1999 - only one tenth of a percent ahead of last year's numbers.

Construction Labor Research Council Executive Director Robert Gasperow told the Bureau of National Affairs that the continued moderation in contract settlements during a building boom in much of the nation is a reflection of "a good economy and responsible bargaining."

Inflation today is nearly nonexistent, he said, so workers are getting more bang for their pay increases. He said other factors are a competitive marketplace and a desire by the industry not to return to the late 1960s and early 1970s, when pay increases were "out of control."