CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Democrats in the state Senate failed in their attempt Thursday to derail a Republican-backed plan to remove the prevailing wage provision from state law.
Senate Minority Leader Jeff Kessler (D-Marshall) took the rare step of trying to kill the bill that came out of committee before the full Senate had a chance to vote on it. After a long, emotional debate, Kessler’s amendment failed along party lines 18-16.
Currently the state sets the wage rate, known as the prevailing wage, for construction projects financed by tax dollars. Supporters of the prevailing wage say it has provided good-paying jobs for thousands of state residents, but opponents claim the prevailing wage has inflated costs and taken money from other development opportunities.
Kessler said he made his move because the new Republican majority is trying to ramrod the bill through the process without a chance for compromise.
“This bill is not a compromise. This bill is an outright abolition of the prevailing wage law that has served our state well for decades and decades,” Kessler told the Senate.
Sen. Herb Snyder (D-Jefferson) also criticized the majority for its pace with the bill. He said the bill has scared workers across the state.
“What we have done is put fear in the hearts of tens of thousands of West Virginians, our citizens!”
Snyder said the effect of lower wages hit home after a conversation with a worker who would be impacted.
“He said, ‘I’m going to lose my home and I’m going to have to go home tonight and tell my children they aren’t going to be able to go to college.'”
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael (R-Jackson) said the free market should determine the wage for workers even in government-financed projects.
“The taxpayer will be subsidizing the wage rates on public projects. Is that fair? Is there anything fair about that?” Carmichael asked.
Following the vote—which left the bill alive and facing a final vote in the Senate next week—Kessler called for workers to flood the state capitol on President’s Day, Feb. 16.
“I would ask that the working men and women of this state that did all the building and living and dying and sweating show up in the halls of this capitol and on the grounds of this capitol and let their voices be heard,” Kessler said.