Comments on: Republican lawmaker touts bill pushed by labor bullies

By: PW_watcher

PW_watcher — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:46:07 +0000

You didn’t quite capture what the bill does. Charter cities HAVE to pay prevailing wages on projects funded in part by the State. What SB 7 does is cut off state funding for a charter city with a provision which permits them to use their own wage system – on city funded projects – if that system would result in wages lower than the state’s prevailing wages (which are set by the union CBAs). It is designed to PUNISH charter cities and their voters who have sought to control their OWN city projects – a principal that was recently upheld by the State Supreme Court in the Vista case. This isn’t a “loophole” as Cannella (a union member – something he proudly admits) suggests or that it is a “game” that “certain firms” exploit. It is pure and simple, another example of State officials usurping the rights of local taxpayers to determine how they will conduct their constitutional right to manage their municipal affairs. Cannella is running for re-election and is paying homage to the construction unions in hopes, apparently, he can eek out another win. All one needs to do is take a micro-economics class and see what happens when you have wage “floors” – fewer people work with much higher wages than you would see if the market were to control. Higher wages for Cannella’s union cronies and less construction for Cannella’s constituent tax-payers!

By: Mrs. White

Mrs. White — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 22:14:12 +0000

The trades unions will be one of the agencies that will bring upon this earth a time of trouble such as has not been since the world began. [Daniel 12:1] In all our great cities there will be a binding up in bundles by the confederacies and unions formed. Men will rule other men and demand much of them. The lives of those who refuse to unite with these unions, will be in peril.

The work of the people of God is to prepare for the events of the future, which will soon come upon them with blinding force. In the world gigantic monopolies will be formed. Men will bind themselves together in unions that will wrap them in the folds of the enemy. A few men will combine to grasp all the means to be obtained in certain lines of business. Trades unions will be formed, and those who refuse to join these unions will be marked men.

These unions are one of the signs of the last days. Men are binding up in bundles ready to be burned. They may be church members, but while they belong to these unions, they cannot possibly keep the commandments of God; for to belong to these unions means to disregard the entire Decalogue.
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.” . . . How can men obey these words, and form combinations that rob the poorer classes of the advantages which justly belong to them, preventing them from buying or selling, except under certain conditions.

Those who claim to be the children of God are in no case to bind up with the labor unions that are formed or that shall be formed. This the Lord forbids. Cannot those who study the prophecies see and understand what is before us?
Important issues must soon be met, and we wish to be hid in the cleft of the rock, that we may see Jesus, and be quickened by His Holy Spirit. We have no time to lose, not a moment. Maranatha p. 182

By: The Pro-Union Republicans Are Back!

The Pro-Union Republicans Are Back! — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:58:13 +0000

Brent Granlund, Anthony Pescetti, Ken Maddox, Anthony Cannella.

By: He doesn't know his own district

He doesn't know his own district — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 19:37:54 +0000

Cannella represents the Central Valley and the Salinas Valley where cost-of-living and market wage rates are well below the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. A lot of cities in these regions exempt their local projects from state prevailing wage. If Cannella’s bill becomes law, it will encourage unemployed union workers to travel to Central Valley and the Salinas Valley for work, because they can compete against locals without compromising their wage rates. This bill works against Cannella’s own constituents.

By: ExPFCWintergreen

ExPFCWintergreen — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:04:31 +0000

Looks like Cannella is trying to continue to earn the prevailing wages of the Senate beyond 2014

By: Donkey

Donkey — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 14:36:52 +0000

Ahh, the “prevailing wage” issue. I would have to say it helped create the American middle-class and has given non-government retirement to millions of Americans. Without it constuction conpanies would have imported all their labor from any number of nations(India, China), not just Mexico. It was a good idea back in the day, but like all good ideas, it has become twisted. Much like what the RAGWUS has done with its pay and benefit packages the manner in which the PW is calculated has become perverted.

In the RAGWUS the notion that the county or city average pay, perks, pensions, and benefits was the starting point for all positions in a non-wealth creating workforce is absurd, but that is the reality of how a RAGWUS feeder is valued. And this is how prevailing wage for government contracts is also arrived at, it is not based on actual costs, but on the average of what the local area construction jobs are paying, and these numbers are derived from an appointed labor board filled with union folk. I believe in paying a person a fair wage, one where they can afford to pay their way through life, but not every job is in that category, such as fast food, however the PW costs are out of control and the RAGWUS has a lot to do with it becoming a cancer to business, as the RAGWUS has resulted. 🙂

By: jimmydeeoc

jimmydeeoc — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:11:36 +0000

Skipping (Away From Reality) Dog……….

As I am sure you pay twice what your neighbors pay to have your lawn mowed.

And at the drive through at Burger King: “$4.99 plus tax you say? Balderdash!……that’s not enough….Here….Please charge me $8.99 plus tax. Ahhhh….that’s it……..I feel SOOOOO much better about myself!”

By: NTHEOC

NTHEOC — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 04:09:47 +0000

Chris reed,
You should be the spokesmen for WALMART!!!! Their policy on pay and benefits is right up your ally…

By: SkippingDog

SkippingDog — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 03:33:01 +0000

I prefer PLA’s, but a statewide Prevailing Wage requirement would be an excellent policy decision. If a city wants state funding for its projects, it shouldn’t be able to direct the contracts to the lowball scab operators who would love nothing more than to pay their employees minimum wage or less if they could get away with it. That may fly as a take no prisoners business policy, but it’s bad public policy.

By: econprof

econprof — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 23:37:21 +0000

Cannella should be banished from the ranks of Republicans if he is serious about this. Of course businesses do their best to minimize costs and maximize quality when they decide on pay, fringe benefits, methods of production, etc. Whenever government intervenes to dictate to them, efficiency suffers, and the customer (here, taxpayers) pay more to get less. When the left picks off one of ours–a so-called Republican–we learn again how duplicitous they are, and wasteful of the public’s money.