Some Republicans in West Virginia’s House of Delegates have formed a caucus to support labor issues, but they’re getting pushback.
The West Virginia Republican Labor Caucus was announced last week, with an emphasis on supporting apprenticeship programs. About two dozen lawmakers gathered under a marble pillar to make the announcement, expressing the kind of support for labor issues that has long been the realm of their Democratic counterparts.
“I actually believe there has been some semblance of a labor caucus, but we just made it formal,” said Delegate Evan Worrell, R-Cabell, who led the announcement.
Furthermore, Worrell said he supports reestablishing prevailing wage for publicly-financed construction projects in West Virginia. That is his own position, he said today, not necessarily that of the full labor caucus.
That’s the aspect of the announcement that has drawn fire because it’s at odds with a major Republican legislative victory from just five years ago. But more broadly, support for the effort and criticism are wrapped up in reaction to the major federal infrastructure bill passed by Congress and signed into law by President Biden this month.
There are also undercurrents of more aspects of this particular moment of West Virginia politics: How big is the tent for the dominant Republicans? How far from orthodoxy can an individual politician stray? And is whatever influence still held by labor unions sloshing into the GOP?
West Virginia’s Republican-led Legislature made a big political push in 2016 to repeal the prevailing wage law and to pass right-to-work legislation. Lawmakers overrode a veto by then-Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin to accomplish the two goals.
Prevailing wage requires contractors performing public construction work to pay a certain hourly minimum wage rate. The rate was determined through an annual survey by the West Virginia Division of Labor.
Even Gov. Jim Justice, first elected as a Democrat and now a Republican, earlier this year seemed to question whether the prevailing wage and right-to-work initiatives had jolted the state economy. The governor later clarified that he meant those policies hadn’t been ultimate solutions to the state’s economic challenges.
Worrell, who was elected in 2018, said he disagreed with the prevailing wage repeal and continues to believe it unfairly benefits out-of-state companies that can undercut local employers.
“I didn’t agree with it when it happened five years ago, to be honest, and there’s a group of us who believe the same way,” Worrell said on MetroNews’ “Talkline.”
“That’s one of the things I’d like to see reversed.” But he acknowledged, “We don’t think it’s going to happen. We don’t have the votes to make it happen. But I think it’s important to be honest and up front.”
That position drew a rebuke last week from the West Virginia Republican Party, which cited a portion of the party platform that opposes re-imposition of prevailing wage. The state party issued a news release prompted by a line about support for prevailing wage in the last sentence of a Charleston Gazette-Mail story.
“Prevailing wage laws increase the cost of government and disadvantage small business,” stated Mark Harris, chairman of the state party.
“We should not turn back the clock on West Virginia’s new pro-growth policies by putting our state back under Big Labor’s thumb. I strongly urge the Republican Labor Caucus to abandon their push to take our state in the wrong direction.”
Harris indicated the issue could make a difference in West Virginia primary elections. His statement hinted that the state party could come out against Republicans who support prevailing wage.
“The West Virginia Republican Party will educate our primary voters on the prevailing wage issue,” he stated. “In addition, we will inform our base voters of those who vote against our conservative principles.”
More pushback came during a talk radio appearance last week by state Senator Eric Tarr, R-Putnam.
Tarr, the Senate Finance chairman, not only spoke about the new Republican Labor Caucus but also about some recent political figures who changed party from Democrat to Republican.
Once a Democratic stronghold, West Virginia has tilted heavily Republican in recent electoral cycles. Republicans hold all of the top executive branch positions as well as supermajorities in the state Senate and House of Delegates.
Speaking on “580 Live” with host Dave Allen, Tarr called the newly-formed Republican group the “Biden labor caucus.”
“One of the keystones of his agenda is pushing labor unions,” Tarr said of the president, “because they fund all these Democrat legislators and they attack Republicans
“Well, these Republicans get up there, they’re worried about the power and authority and attack and the money that comes into those races — and they say ‘You know what? We can get off their bad side if we come in and help that.'”
Tarr said diverging from one aspect of the Republican platform means undercutting a range of other conservative priorities.
“You can’t just be partly Republican or partly pro-labor because that money goes to support Planned Parenthood, it goes to support all the gun grabbing legislation that’s out there. It goes to fight every Republican that comes in to move a fiscal conservative agenda. So you can’t go in just with your toe when you’re getting into legislative process.
“I’m telling you, the conservatives have got to turn out in these Republican primaries and know their candidates.”
Steve White, the executive director of the Affiliated Construction Trades, said he’s had productive conversations with Worrell and other individual Republicans because it’s his job to express support for construction workers and the issues that affect their paychecks to those who will listen.
“While I can understand why some think the labor movement is an extension of the Democratic Party that simply is not the case,” White, whose organization represents trade unions, said in an email.
“Certainly over the past few years we in the construction trades have been under attack by Republican leadership with the repeal of the state prevailing wage law, passage of right-to-work and many other bills. However we have always had a good relationship with certain Republican legislators who do not attack us, evidenced by the failure of the legislature to repeal or incapacitate the West Virginia Jobs Act even though it has been attempted for many years.
“We are encouraged by the formation of the Republican Labor Caucus because that means there are legislators willing to listen. The timing couldn’t be better given the passage of major infrastructure legislation in D.C. With billions of dollars en route to our state for infrastructure there is a tremendous opportunity for local contractors and workers. But an opportunity is not a guarantee.”
White applauded the labor caucus’s embrace of union apprenticeship programs, calling them a path to participation in the work resulting from the infrastructure spending.
“While some will say West Virginia can’t find the people to do the work I hear people like Delegate Worrell say something different. He wants to meet the challenge by working with apprenticeship programs, contractors and labor and get more citizens trained and employed in the good jobs the federal spending will create,” White said.
“He is also concerned we will miss this opportunity and see an influx of out-of-state contractors and workers if we fail to meet the demand locally. I find that leadership refreshing.”
Worrell today voiced support for those apprenticeship programs, saying he’d like to see legislation to strengthen them. “I realize that by myself I’m not going to be able to stop anything or make any changes,” he said. “I believe there’s always been something of a group, so we wanted to make something official to let people know we do support those trades organizations.”
Worrell also said that support doesn’t mean his party identification should be in doubt.
“I have been a lifelong Republican and will always remain so,” he said. “Just because I disagree with one issue doesn’t mean I’m not a Republican any more.”