Will ending union wages on Michigan public projects save money, or just lower pay?

[TexasTowelie]

Michigan Republicans last week narrowly repealed a 53-year-old state law that required contractors on public construction projects to pay union-rate wages and benefits.

It’s an archaic law, they said, one that artificially inflated the costs of taxpayer-funded projects — money that could stretch farther in Michigan classrooms, or to pay for materials to improve roads.

To Democrats and union members in the building trades, who erupted in anger after the vote tally was read, repealing the prevailing-wage law was yet another GOP-sponsored attack on working people — at a time when many Michiganders still feel like a decade-long recovery hasn’t helped them.

Gov. Rick Snyder can’t veto the law, since it started as a citizen-led ballot drive. Snyder has spent years trying to get more people to work in skilled trades fields, and has said repealing the prevailing wage law wouldn’t help.

Read more: https://www.bridgemi.com/economy/will-ending-union-wages-michigan-public-projects-save-money-or-just-lower-pay

[guillaumeb]

1. It will lower wages, and lead to a smaller local economy.

And that will result in lower earnings for local businesses, and local governments, and a weaker overall economy.