In surfing the web this morning looking for things to blog about, I was struck again by how resource rich our corner of the world actually is. Our economy is linked to coal, natural gas, uranium and water—just to name a few resources we have in abundance here.
We have people who depend on each of these resources for their jobs. And we have people who want to pay the lowest possible wage to the workers who work in resource extraction. A Highlands Ranch developer, who is also a state senator, is feuding with a bureaucrat who enforces Colorado’s real estate laws while also trying to exempt Colorado water projects from federal regulations requiring Davis Bacon wage rates.
And we have media coverage that pretty consistently tells the story of industry, but rarely tells the story of labor. Davis Bacon wage rates, which are always made to seem unfair by reporters, are nothing more than a federal law that says that if federal money is used to fund a project, the workers should be paid union wage rates. For the life of me I can’t figure out why it is such a bad thing to pay decent wages to the people who live in my neighborhood, and spend money in local businesses which results in sales taxes for cities and counties. Nor can I figure out why developers are always surprised that the federal government actually enforces federal laws when they fund a project with taxpayer money.
It is all about balance. We need the jobs. We need a clean place to live and work. We need workers to share in the fruits of their labor as do the business owners and developers who hire them.
Homework:
http://www.deltacountyindependent.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14106:huge-gas-field-eyed-for-development&catid=77:top-stories&Itemid=373
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/bill_focuses_on_cleanup_of_ura
http://www.statebillnews.com/section/frontpage/ßStory about SJR10-018
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14706668
http://www.hcn.org/greenjustice/blog/location-location-location
We have people who depend on each of these resources for their jobs. And we have people who want to pay the lowest possible wage to the workers who work in resource extraction. A Highlands Ranch developer, who is also a state senator, is feuding with a bureaucrat who enforces Colorado’s real estate laws while also trying to exempt Colorado water projects from federal regulations requiring Davis Bacon wage rates.
And we have media coverage that pretty consistently tells the story of industry, but rarely tells the story of labor. Davis Bacon wage rates, which are always made to seem unfair by reporters, are nothing more than a federal law that says that if federal money is used to fund a project, the workers should be paid union wage rates. For the life of me I can’t figure out why it is such a bad thing to pay decent wages to the people who live in my neighborhood, and spend money in local businesses which results in sales taxes for cities and counties. Nor can I figure out why developers are always surprised that the federal government actually enforces federal laws when they fund a project with taxpayer money.
It is all about balance. We need the jobs. We need a clean place to live and work. We need workers to share in the fruits of their labor as do the business owners and developers who hire them.
Homework:
http://www.deltacountyindependent.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14106:huge-gas-field-eyed-for-development&catid=77:top-stories&Itemid=373
http://www.gjsentinel.com/news/articles/bill_focuses_on_cleanup_of_ura
http://www.statebillnews.com/section/frontpage/ßStory about SJR10-018
http://www.denverpost.com/business/ci_14706668
http://www.hcn.org/greenjustice/blog/location-location-location
RSS Feed