CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Governor Earl Ray Tomblin is predicting the ongoing uncertainty about West Virginia’s prevailing wage will not continue past September.
“It’s unfortunate that we’re in this in-between phase right now” Tomblin said during a stop Thursday at a bricklayer recruiting site the Bricklayers District Council had set up outside of Charleston’s WorkForce West Virginia office.
“There’s a lot of concern there, especially from the labor side, but I think it will work itself out in the near future.”
Republican lawmakers are still going back and forth with WorkForce West Virginia about what documents were or were not turned over, as requested and later subpoenaed, dealing with the methodology used to determine the new prevailing wage.
“There’s been a lot of misunderstandings. I think things could have been worked out without having to do subpoenas and so forth,” Tomblin said.
The previous prevailing wage in West Virginia expired on July 1.
Lawmakers refused to delay the original wage deadline for WorkForce West Virginia amid claims that wage determinations were not being done in accordance with the terms of S.B. 361 which became law earlier this year.
West Virginia’s prevailing wage is the minimum set for wages and benefits paid for large, state-funded construction projects, including those that require bricklayers.
“There’s always concern with the prevailing wage,” said Stephen Ruble, field representative for Bricklayers Local 9 in Charleston. “There’s a lot of misconceptions, a lot of people that, I think, don’t understand what prevailing wage is and how it works.”
Ruble is working to recruit apprentice bricklayers who will begin their careers with an eight-week training program in Harrisville in Ritchie County.
Training next moves to the field where apprentices improve their skills with supervision over the course of four to five years.
“A basic bricklayer apprentice will go out (at) $14.50 an hour which is just a livable wage, a decent wage, and over time he’ll develop his skills and he’ll get paid more,” Ruble said, disputing claims he’d heard that unskilled laborers have been earning $40 an hour with the prevailing wage.
The bricklayer recruitment site, which includes a bricklaying demonstration from the Bricklayers District Council of West Virginia, will be open again Friday beginning at 10 a.m. at Charleston’s Plaza East.
More information about the professional bricklayer apprenticeship program is also available here or e-mail inquiries can be sent to bricklayerwv@gmail.com.
Applications are accepted year-round.