Guess who is the largest employer of underpaid workers in America?

[rhett o rick]

Last edited Sun Jun 2, 2013, 04:09 PM - Edit history (1)

The biggest low-wage employer in the United States isn’t Walmart or McDonald’s, it’s the United States government. Federal contractors employ 2,000,000 people at poverty-level wages, more than Walmart and McDonald’s combined. While CEOs of government contractors are making millions, workers are paid so little they can’t possibly make ends meet and too often have to rely on a second job or public assistance or both.

The President can give everyone of these hard working Americans a raise with the stroke of his pen. It only takes signing an Executive Order for President Obama to require all federal contractors comply with the same Service Employment Act which requires all other federal workers make a living wage.

Please support the work of ProgressiveCongress.

http://www.progressivecongress.com/action/obama-executive-order/?akid=4189.827.A1Ouev&rd=1&t=1

[Cirque du So-What]

1. This demonstrates my ignorance

I thought it already was the law that federal contractors were paid prevailing wages for wherever the job was located. I signed this gladly.

[Buzz Clik]

2. So... it's not the US government, it's federal contractors for the US government.

That's still pretty interesting, and disconcerting.

[rhett o rick]

3. The Federal Government is using these underpaid workers thru

private contractors. That doesnt remove them from responsibility. The government has the power to require the contractors to meet certain standards if they want to do business with the government.

[HiPointDem]

9. avoiding prevailing wage & other standards is one of the reasons they're using contractors.

[indepat]

29. You're so right, rhett, but we all know the purpose of 'contracting out' is to make wealthy

contractors, not to pay living wages, and those contractors become benefactors of the politicians.

[rhett o rick]

31. I have seen it first hand. Government workers that were making a decent wage

seeing their jobs turned over to contract workers that make lower wages while the company owners get big bucks.

[Amonester]

38. The company owners get big bucks because, in part, they send a cut back...

to the non-governing, but fund-raising politicians.

We all know how 'it' works (not for us).

[Occulus]

64. No, it's the government itself.

The USPS (okay, okay; quasi-governmental, but subject to the fickle fates of Congress nonetheless) is currently in the process of replacing its entire full-time-regular workforce with temporary, at-will employees they call PSEs. Those employees make half the pay of a full-time career position, do exactly the same work, never know from week to week what their days off are, can be moved to a different shift at will and usually arbitrarily, and have little union protections.

I should note that postal management is doing this only because it can, thanks to not only the APWU, but the NPMHU and the NALC as well. In the single greatest example of a general failure to adequately represent the interests of its members I am aware of through all of United States history, the upper echelons of the American Postal Workers Union (and the others), in the name of "austerity", to coin a phrase, knowingly consented to the official addition of this class of employees in its most recent contract negotiations. It is my firm belief that, were such a case ever to be seriously pursued, the negotiators employed by the three unions, the actual participating upper-level individual representing the members from all three unions during those negotiations, and the unions themselves in general could quite easily be found at fault in any halfway-competent class-action suit regarding their failure to adequately represent, and would be found at fault by any reasonable jury if even a halfway competent and willing attorney were to be retained by the unions' remaining membership.

They sold us out. They bargained away postal workers' very job security, in what was (past tense) one of the very few unskilled labor jobs that had job security. They "compromised without a fight" (SOUND FAMILIAR?). They handed postal management more than half the store and doomed the very idea of postal work as a career you could stay in for years as a result. That deserves a very stiff and lasting punishment, preferably applied also and in particular to the individuals involved in those negotiations. There is no excuse for that level of fundamental member betrayal on any union's part. It is a flagrant violation of one of the core purposes of any union that ever was, and I for one want back every penny of dues I ever paid to that union, times three in punishment. I'd bankrupt the APWU if I could for that and that alone, and seeing my former union's President never be able to work in that area ever again would have me breathing a sigh of relief.

Useless idiots, all of the upper tiers. I don't know why we ever bothered to vote- appointing the positions by drawing names out of a hat would have resulted in a better pool of intellect than the bozos the APWU has at the top right now.

No, for the record, I don't hate unions, but we all have good reason to demand accountability for this monumental shirking of responsibility. After all, they're the ones who made certain the situation could not ever be fixed.

[Egalitarian Thug]

4. They always write exceptions and exemptions into laws for themselves and their

friends who get the contracts.

[cherokeeprogressive]

17. Bingo. n/t

[rhett o rick]

32. I also say bingo. nm

[1-Old-Man]

5. Somehow I find this to be extremely hard to believe

There is the Davis Bacon Act that demands that prevailing wages be paid for certain contracted activities, which means in effect that federal contractors working hands on are paid Union wages for the contracted activities and then there is the Service Contract Act that covers contractor personnel who work in the service industries. So this all sort of sounds like nonsense to me.

[Exen Trik]

6. But does it work out that way?

Wouldn't be the first time that what should be an all encompassing protection amounted to nothing due to shenanigans. Unfortunately I don't know the laws or the statistics involved here, we need someone with knowledge of both to proofcheck this.

[sulphurdunn]

13. The law

also requires that private contractors only do work for the government it can't do cheaper or better. You might want to look at this.

http://www.pogo.org/our-work/letters/2013/20130415-feds-vs-contractors-cost-comparison.html

[alfredo]

26. Bush suspended the Davis-Bacon act after Katrina.

Has there been any repeal or modification of the act?

[Lasher]

42. That was for just one month.

[alfredo]

57. And that was because of Democrats pushing him.

[rhett o rick]

52. I find it extremely easy to believe. If you have evidence this is nonsense, please share. nm

[1-Old-Man]

63. I spent a little over two decades as a Contracting Officer, so it is first hand experience

Virtually every Contract(or) (and subcontractor) we (U.S. Department of Energy) had was audited for compliance. I know of no Agency who gave the matter any less attention than us and we paid very close attention. So I really don't buy into this nonsense for a minute.

[dotymed]

60. Yes, those laws are supposed to

apply but they do not here in the South. Much of the construction on Ft. Campbell, Ky. pays prevailing wage (not all) but they also have private contractor security. They look like Wal-Mart employees. Nothing military about them.
They are paid about $8 hourly. All of the AAFES employees on post earn practically nothing also.

[Occulus]

66. Oh, that's EASY to fix.

You just redefine those jobs right out of any covered category. The requirements don't change for the job being done, but now it's different, see, and since it's different, it's not covered.

Neat, huh?

[Sunlei]

7. contractors don't have to hire americans they can use foreign visa workers.

or subcontract stuff from china to fill their contracts. Or use subcontractors.

Support President Obama, he asked congress to raise the Federal minimum wage to 9.00 an hour. Then all the states have to raise to match that minimum wage.

Of course wages are to low in the USA, the states have to raise their minimum wage and if the Federal wage goes up, the states have to match.

[jeff47]

15. If you can get security clearances for Chinese workers, I will be impressed (nt)

[Sunlei]

18. "subcontract stuff from china to fill their contracts"

I meant have the contract goods made in another country. Cheap visa labor workers are usually people from a close country.

[jeff47]

19. And the people making those goods would still have to have a clearance

if it's most of the MIC jobs.

[Sunlei]

22. what's mic?

The Federal gov hands out millions of contracts to fill orders, everything from clothes, foods, uniforms a lot of those goods are not made by American workers.

[jmowreader]

28. Military Industrial Complex

[Sunlei]

47. meals ready to eat contracts must give massive profits to the 'middleman' :)

[alfredo]

27. During the Katrina reconstruction contractors subcontracted out, and did not hire

local labor. They hired the undocumented and then stiffed them.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2005/11/06/162694/-Halliburton-Using-Illegal-Labor-in-Katrina-Cleanup-Subcontractors-Stiff-Workers

GULFPORT, Mississippi (AP) -- A pattern is emerging as the cleanup of Mississippi's Gulf Coast morphs into its multibillion-dollar reconstruction: Come payday, untold numbers of Hispanic immigrant laborers are being stiffed.
Sometimes, the boss simply vanishes. Other workers wait on promises that soon, someone in a complex hierarchy of contractors will provide the funds to pay them.

Nonpayment of wages is a violation of federal labor law, but these workers -- thousands of them, channeled into teams that corral debris, swaddle punctured roofs in blue tarps and gut rain-ravaged homes -- are especially vulnerable because many are here illegally.

[Sunlei]

48. you're right, remember reading all the locals who had jobs forever w/ seafood

Came back after the hurricane to find foreigners doing their jobs.

[malokvale77]

8. I know...

I have one of those jobs. Home healthcare, through Medicaid, contracted by one of those faith based organizations. $7.25 an hour, 30 hours a week. It's been nearly 4 years with no raise. I usually work extra hours, but I can't claim it on my timesheet.

It's the hardest work I've ever done in my long years. I'm a 100 pound woman, and trying to bath a full grown male invalid is strenuous and exhausting to say the least.

My supervisor drives a Mercedes though, so I guess it's pretty lucrative for some.

[xynthee]

21. So, so sorry you're being exploited!!

I wish I could say something other than, "So sorry you're being exploited!"!! Alas, I can't, so I'll just thank you for doing such important, unappreciated work, and hope that things get much, much better soon!

[malokvale77]

23. Appreciated. nt

[Skeeter Barnes]

25. Hourly workers should be paid for all time spent in service of the employer.

How are they getting away with not paying you for some of those hours?

Sorry you are having to put up with being nickle and dimed when you are already being paid such a low hourly rate. Thank you for the important work you do.

[malokvale77]

30. I'm allowed 30 hours and not one minute more.

Sometimes my patient needs more. I either walk or eat it.

This is Texas. They have their own rules.

[Sunlei]

49. Thank you for being one of the good home healthcare persons.

My family kept my Mom at home for years as she declined from alzheimer's. We all shared primary caregiver 24/7, and Medicaid healthcare Aids came in daily to assist w/ feeding/ bathing.

Some wonderfull Aids, one named Shirley she was awesome and told us 7.25 an hour and the boss limited her hours. Some of the aids were horrible, stuff was stolen, they wouldn't show-up, they would bring their criminal kids along and her phone got charged with jail calls. Couple times mom had brusing and we noted meals were skipped. She did have a wonderfull Doctor who did home call routine check-ups.

My heart goes out to disabled persons without local family to help and the underpaid good healthcare workers.

Medicaid should pay the workers directly, screen them, pay more and manage the workers at a national location, without a local 'for profit'-middleman.

[bvar22]

10. If YOU are a member of America's Working Class,

AND you object to the policies that condone this,
[font size=3]Thats just TOO BAD, SUCKER
Cause YOU ain't GOT NO CHOICE![/font]
The Leadership of BOTH dominant Political Parties SUPPORT the NeoLiberal "Free Market" policies that PRODUCE this result.



Think back about Campaign 2012.
Were the policies of "Free Trade" and "Free Markets" even mentioned in ANY of the debates or Campaign Commercials for EITHER Party?

New Rule (Passed by Congress and signed by President Obama) signals Kiss of Death for Pensions
http://www.cnbc.com/id/100694955

Wealthy win lion's share of major tax breaks
http://www.boston.com/business/news/2013/05/29/wealthy-win-lion-share-major-tax-breaks/Ua0UyYle21EUXub7g1suCI/story.html

Half of America is in poverty, and its creeping toward 75%
http://www.alternet.org/economy/real-numbers-half-america-poverty-and-its-creeping-toward-75-0

Wealth gap widens as labor's share of income falls
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/wealth-gap-widens-labors-share-income-falls-1B6097385

As the Economy Recovers, the Wealth Gap Widens
http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/rick-newman/2013/03/11/as-the-economy-recovers-the-wealth-gap-widens

Top One Percent Captured 121 Percent Of All Income Gains
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/12/top-one-percent-income-gains_n_2670455.html

Corporate Profits Hit Record High While Worker Wages Hit Record Low
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/12/03/1270541/corporate-profits-wages-record/?mobile=nc



[font color=firebrick][center]"There are forces within the Democratic Party who want us to sound like kinder, gentler Republicans.
I want a party that will STAND UP for Working Americans."
---Paul Wellstone [/font][/center]
[center][/font]
[font size=1]photo by bvar22
Shortly before Sen Wellstone was killed[/center][/font]


You will know them by their WORKS.

[KoKo]

36. Oh. It's Impolite or Impolitic to say what you just said..You gotta get with the PROGRAM.

Dontcha...Know?

[midnight]

41. Lots of great links.... thanks.

[ctsnowman]

54. Nailed it.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

11. As a federal government employee, I can tell you that it requires more than the

president's pen. Congress has to ok the budget for salaries. Not only is there a freeze on federal pay, an increase in federal pay depends on congressional approval.

[salib]

16. Red herring or ...

"As a federal government employee" you should know the difference between an employee of the Govt. and a contractor.

[Liberal_Stalwart71]

50. It is not necessary to be rude and a smart ass. Of course I know the difference between contractor

and federal government employees. But as we've seen with military contractors, a lot of those salaries were cut because government budgets were cut (sequestration). I have several friends who are contractors for DOD. They are not immune to what's going on with the cuts. Again, sequestration is hurting everyone--federal government employees and their contractors.

Program funding that affect salaries--whether government employee or contracting--does require on congressional action. No degree of hatred against the president will change that fact.

Your rude response was uncalled for.

[KansDem]

12. When government "CEOs" start pulling salaries in the hundreds of millions...

...of dollars and give themselves multi-million dollar bonuses, get back to me...

[rhett o rick]

20. The point of the OP was that the government is guilty of paying more employees low

wages than any private employer. More and more government work is being done by contractors whose CEO's are raking in millions. I guess I didnt get your point.

[KoKo]

33. Yes...gotta read a lot..which you do...to reveal this...and it's sad that so many don't

understand what is going on...but, it's not their fault...it's that it's hard to be informed when one is working 24/7...and little time except for a bit of a break.

Thanks for posting this. The Private Contractors and Third Party that are benefiting from Outsourcing are driving down the real Govt. Employees Wages.

It's as if all is being Outsources for Higher Salaries our Govt. Pays and they claim this is "Downsizing the Govt." THE BIG LIE!

[bvar22]

37. And as MORE and MORE of our Government functions are "privatized",

....more and MORE CEOs with connections in Congress get to knock down Multi-Million Dollar salaries.

Nice "work" if you can find it.



You will know them by their WORKS.

[sulphurdunn]

14. Pay to Play

politics is the root of all evil in a republic. If that flaw isn't corrected, no others will be, and the system will eventually collapse violently.

[blkmusclmachine]

24. Worthless eaters. Get out of the way of the Savvy Businessmen!

[madville]

34. Have some experience with this

Governments (federal, state, county, city) typically award contracts to the lowest bidder that meets the qualifications. I have worked for a state and a federal contractor and am currently a federal employee, all in the same field. The lowest paid I have been is as a federal employee but I have decent health benefits and a pension.

I'm curious how with "the stroke of a pen" the President can instantly alter existing contracts.

[kelliekat44]

35. OK, so what do the RWingers want? they can't have it both ways. They wanted the Gov to cut jobs

especially good paying jobs for women and minorities. /the work had to be done so they contracted out a lot of Fed work to contractor cronies of the /RW. It's the private sector contractors that pay the low wages and little benefits...exactly what the GOP has wanted ever since Reagan was in office and the Grace Co took over a huge hunk of government jobs as career gov't workers either retired or took the low=paying jobs being offered by the contractors or found other work., It's called "contracting out." All this because the GOP hated the fact that the government was the largest honoree of Affirmative Action and Equal Employment Opportunity for women and minorities (think blacks here). Can't have those undeserving folks have good paying, meaningful jobs. That ruins things for the wealthy ...

[midnight]

39. K&R

[jeff47]

40. Really? You think the President can modify existing contracts unilaterally?

Yeah, not so much.

Now, you could make an argument about some EO for future contracts.

[rhett o rick]

43. Wow, did you really think they were speaking of changing existing contracts?? Wow, that's totally

crazy.

[jeff47]

44. Read your own quote.

The President can give everyone of these hard working Americans a raise with the stroke of his pen. It only takes signing an Executive Order for President Obama to require all federal contractors comply with the same Service Employment Act which requires all other federal workers make a living wage.

The subject is the "hard working Americans" that are currently working on a contract. To give them a raise by EO would require the President to unilaterally change that contract.

[rhett o rick]

45. LOL, and you thought that meant existing contracts. You should know he cant change

existing contracts. I am sure everyone understood that.

[jeff47]

46. Then explain, exactly, how an EO can give them a raise today.

That's what your quote claims. So how, exactly, does that happen without a new contract?

[xchrom]

51. du rec.

[karynnj]

53. This link contains absolutely no back up for the claim

It also does not say what they define as a living wage. In addition, the 2,000,000 do not work for ONE company - so the first sentence is not technically true. There is also a question as to the idea that Obama can change the requirements of EXISTING contracts immediately.

I DO think the right idea is to put the requirement in ALL contracts going forward. It bothers me when a great idea and a good principle is presented like this - as an attack on Obama. The worst part is that they are likely not accurate in saying Obama can change this with a stroke of a pen - he likely can't - and when he doesn't, he will be attacked.

[ctsnowman]

55. K & R

Race to the bottom.

[Le Taz Hot]

56. As a gummit employee

I can attest to that. The vast majority of fed employees are now hired on as temporary/part-time so you've no chance at getting benefits or pensions. My last 2-week paycheck was a whopping $206.00. woohoo! But after being unemployed for almost 3 years it's better than nothing which is what I was getting before.

[alarimer]

58. They started privatizing a lot of the low-skill jobs in order to "save money."

In reality, it doesn't save the government money at all; it probably costs more because the contractor has to take their cut.

[shawn703]

59. Can someone post a link to the Service Employment Act?

Or is it called something else? My Google searching on it only brings up links to a Civil Service Employment Act in Canada. Thanks ahead of time.

[pinboy3niner]

62. Try searching for Service Contract Act instead. nt

[shawn703]

65. Thanks but

If I found the right law, the McNamara–O'Hara Service Contract Act,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/McNamara%E2%80%93O'Hara_Service_Contract_Act

it looks like this applies only to the contractors and subcontractors. Is there a law that requires government employees to be paid a living wage?

[Puzzledtraveller]

61. As a state employee

I am full agreement on fed and state level. This is what it has come to for us. Sad.

http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/pay-raise-for-kentucky?source=s.em.mt&r_by=7957492