Indiana's recent repeal of its prevailing wage law—31 states still have them—is no cause for celebration from the public's or the industry's point of view. For taxpayers, such laws may add initially to the cost of public works, although how much is debatable. From the industry's point of view, prevailing wages provide union construction workers with pay packages sufficient for a middle-class life and retirement. With construction badly in need of more skilled craft workers, prevailing wages and a strong union sector provide a valuable standard for what workers can earn. The roughly $70-an-hour state prevailing wage and fringe-benefit cost for a carpenter in union- dominated Cook County, Ill., which includes Chicago, isn't completely out of line with the expenses faced by a middle-class family. Of that compensation, $43.35 is the basic wage. It won't easily cover the cost of two private-college tuitions or unexpected, uncovered medical emergencies or home care for an elderly parent.
Unions have been forced since the inflationary early 1970s to adjust to the new realities of business and to cooperate more closely with employers to stay competitive. As for the workers, they are never guaranteed year-round, nine-to-five employment. The image of the union construction worker as a pampered and overcompensated blue-collar aristocrat is undeserved and misleading.