Non-Union Workers

Are Substandard Workers

To the Editor:

In last week’s edition of The Bee, a letter was published titled “Misleading the Department of Labor” written by Ruby Johnson, 2/27/09. After reading this and other articles in The Bee on the same subject I felt the need to express my opinions.

The town’s attorney was quoted by The Bee as saying, “Prevailing labor rates could be as much as 30 percent higher.” This statement was regarding work to be done at Fairfield Hills. This situation should be looked at from both sides of the coin.

I have been a member of the Carpenters Union Local 210 in Danbury for 22 years and a Newtown homeowner for ten years. The consequences we face by not following the state’s rules are unforgivable. As all towns know, this 30 percent is a given. In trying to avoid this we would be sacrificing uncompromising quality, workmanship, and piece of mind, knowing a job is well done. Compromising this quality for low cost must not be tolerated in our (FFH) endeavors.

With the encompassment of state funded apprenticeship programs along with annual journeyman classes, union business agents are able to deliver years of priceless, local carpenter skills to area municipalities. We must avoid problems while going ahead, where substandard (nonprevailing wage) is used on municipal projects. If we don’t, unsafe, unmonitored substandard work could return to haunt us. On large projects, substandard workers are most often hired from outside the state. Individuals are often listed as subcontractors. In turn they take their mediocre wages back home with them, spending their money elsewhere. Union labor uses only local skilled professional employees.

In today’s downturned economy, especially when municipal work exists in my own area, I should be able to make an honest living. Good health care, an annuity, and a pension. Returning my wages to Newtown schools, stores, and restaurants. In turn trusting local government to adhere to state standards.

We should applaud the watchdogs of local government; they have only the town’s best interest in mind. The Department of Labor has enacted the prevailing wage based on the cost of living in the area. This keeps a level playing field in which a tradesman can earn a fair and honest living for himself and for the future of his family.

Peter J. Markey

Louis Hill Road, Newtown                                             March 3, 2009