© 2024 WNMU-FM
Upper Great Lakes News, Music, and Arts & Culture
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Prevailing wage law: Backers ask for public vote on repeal

LANSING, MI (AP)--   The best chance advocates have to save a Michigan law that promises better wages on public works projects is if Republican legislators ignore a petition initiative and instead let voters decide the fate of prevailing wage.  

The statute requires workers on government construction projects to be paid local wage and benefit rates based on union contracts. Governor Rick Snyder supports the law as a way to address a shortage of skilled tradespeople.

So nonunion contractors and conservative donors are pushing for the measure's repeal through citizen-initiated legislation.

The Legislature will be able to pass the bill with no possibility of a veto.

Many in the construction industry want lawmakers to not act so that the legislation goes to a statewide vote in 2016. But majority Republicans seem poised to vote.

The Associated Press is one of the largest and most trusted sources of independent newsgathering, supplying a steady stream of news to its members, international subscribers and commercial customers. AP is neither privately owned nor government-funded; instead, it's a not-for-profit news cooperative owned by its American newspaper and broadcast members.