Saturday, January 14, 2017

The Word On Davis Bacon Construction Projects

By Frank Collins


Raging controversy has always surrounded labor and the way it is paid, necessitating the passage of acts. These usually sought to amend things, and a law was passed in America before WWII for just worker salaries to be paid by companies to workers when they were contracted. Salaries had to be the same as the standard.

Nowadays, the bill is still in use for HUD, the department that addresses mass housing in cities and other places. Construction outfits do not have much use for Davis Bacon projects and avoid them because of they are not good for their income statements. The act has been the center of raging debates on how salaries are supposed to be set up under the law.

Under the Related Acts, government is supposed to be responsible for the financial grants, loans and other forms of assistance. But these have become slow in coming and tied up with red tape, so that contractors with government housing contracts are not able to fully utilize their rights for these. Serving Related Acts provisions promptly was meant to be a consideration for construction companies.

Families that could not afford private housing often have recourse to the low income projects made under the bill. But then, the participating companies have often made substandard installations to save on costs to fulfill their need to pay their workers well. However, their workers still have much the same problems of making ends meet today compared to earlier times.

Government guarantees or underwrites a failed system of providing affordable housing to income earners in the lower brackets. Today, a lot of people who are beneficiaries of this system still take the housing units that are offered. The choice is to spend more on much better built apartments or homes.

The country has not been known to be strong in delivering social systems that address basic needs for citizens. The Davis Bacon act has become a very heavy load for administrations that need to progress from it. For times that are touted to more progressive, it is an archaic law that has made government unpopular and top heavy.

People who are enrolled in the HUD programs do not have much of a choice. Housing provided by the private sector at least doubles the money needed for having a home that will not leak when it rains. Owners of these units have the privilege of spending more out of pocket for installs to improve their homes.

The GAO in 1979 made a report in relation to the bill and how it is no longer serviceable and needs to be repealed. There are several stated causes, but all of these were based on critical analysis of services. It did not mention how the act has become a way to discriminate against African Americans.

States have been trying to support Davis Bacon with their own local versions for just compensation for government contracts. But certain groups within their legislatures have also countered with laws that make them ineffective. A judgment is in the offing for government and congress, and they need to come up with something else quickly.




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