Please Sign the Petition for Decent Pay in the Gulf Coast

President Bush cut pay for workers already in economic distress by issuing an executive order that removed Davis-Bacon Act community wage standards from construction workers who will rebuild the Gulf Coast.

And now, Republican extremists in Congress have introduced legislation to automatically suspend these wage protections for a year in future disaster sites.

These community wage standards were modest to begin with, averaging about $9.50 an hour—less than $20,000 a year—in the hurricane-stricken Gulf states.

People everywhere are outraged by this pay cut for workers who are desperately trying to rebuild their communities and their lives. It's time to turn our outrage into action by getting hundreds of thousands of signatures on our Petition for Decent Pay in the Gulf Coast.

Please sign the petition below, then urge friends, relatives and others to sign it as well. President Bush and your members of Congress will receive messages telling them you have signed the petition.

Sample Letter for Campaign

Subject: Petition for Decent Pay in the Gulf Coast

Dear [ Decision Maker ] ,

We urge President Bush to restore decent pay he took by executive order from construction workers who will rebuild the Gulf Coast. We also urge our members of Congress to use their power as elected national leaders to insist that President Bush take this action and to reject legislation that would cut pay for workers in future disaster sites.

Lowering wages for people and communities already in severe economic distress is an outrage and must be stopped. It is especially unjust when the Bush administration is giving lucrative no-bid rebuilding contracts to politically connected contractors and when the very richest Americans are slated to get massive new tax breaks.

Together we must help working people in the Gulf Coast and in future disaster sites rebuild their communities and their lives. An immediate first step is restoring decent pay protections for them and rejecting attempts in Congress to cut workers' pay in future disaster zones.

Signed by:

Campaign Launched:
September 29, 2005

Background Information

Talking Points on Davis-Bacon Suspension

The Bush Adm. is allowing contractors to DRIVE DOWN WAGES EVEN FURTHER for a desperate group of workers washed out of their homes, out of their jobs, out of the world, as they knew it...

For the devastated and impoverished communities in the Gulf Coast, Bush’s suspension of Davis-Bacon is a SHAMEFULL government-sponsored WAGE RACE to the BOTTOM for all workers.
This is no time to make that easier for such employers to exploit a most vulnerable group of workers. What a double tragedy it is to allow the destruction of Hurricane Katrina to depress living standards even further.
Suspension of the essential protections of Davis-Bacon for workers on the Gulf Coast will only salt the wounds of those workers devastated by Katrina by further lowering their wages and making it harder for needy families to get back on their feet.
It will only benefit unscrupulous, bottom-feeding building contractors who will reap a windfall in profits at the expense of construction workers and their families.
This latest action by the President, is A SLAP IN THE FACE to the people of that region to say that they should get paid bottom-basement wages, rather than reconstruction being a step up to a decent life for their families
The callousness of the administration’s response to the agonies of working poor stranded in the abominable conditions of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Katrina has shocked and shamed the American people.
The gross incompetence of the administration’s response to this tragedy also powerfully demonstrates the failure of Bush’s economic policies of cutting taxes for the rich, denying government of the resources it needs to do its job and starving our nation of the public investment needed to assure the economic strength of our country and the economic security of the American people.
If Davis-Bacon suspension was about Katrina, why then waive rules for the 3 largest counties in Southern Florida where no significant damage occurred? (Miami-Dade, Broward, Monroe)
How can we justify that in a region where a quarter of the population is poor, Bush wants to pay workers LESS to rebuild their communities!

In effect, what Pres. Bush is saying is “Let’s Keep the Gulf Coast’s Poor Poor”

Instead, (1) we need to protect the wages of the workers who are dedicated to rebuilding the region.
(2) We need to strengthen our government at all levels to perform the essential functions that only government can provide.
(3) and we need adequate public investment in our country’s infrastructure to provide economic security for all Americans and a solid basis for a vibrant economy.

Brief Legislative History
Davis Bacon Act of 1931, requires contractors on federally assisted construction projects to pay their workers no less than the wage rates prevailing in the local area for each craft
The Davis-Bacon rate does not require the union wage rate unless it is the locally prevailing rate (in fact, 72 percent of Davis-Bacon wage determinations were not based on the union rate, according to a recent study)
Davis-Bacon prevents a wage race to the bottom in federal construction – prevents contractors from low-balling bids by using the cheapest workers, either locally, or by importing labor from somewhere else.
Studies show that work preformed under Davis-Bacon is of better quality and is done with fewer injuries.
Studies show that the higher Davis-Bacon wages attract a more productive workforce - and these productivity gains offset the higher wage/benefit costs. Therefore, Davis-Bacon wages don't add to the overall costs of fed construction.
Emergency power to waive Davis-Bacon has rarely been used; examples: Nixon - after consulting with labor - for only 28 days; Bush Sr. (Hurricane Andrew). President Reagan never used it.