Contrary to Dan Fagan's opinion, the city's support of union subcontracting will likely save the city money in the long run. In his Sunday column, Fagan never acknowledges the business efficiencies and cost reductions associated with using the largest pool of most qualified employees available in the electrical industry.
Many of Alaska's utilities and telecom providers have had similar subcontracting language with the IBEW for decades, so what is Fagan crying foul about? In addition to these, several private entities utilize the same practice to ensure the highest return on their investment.
And there is good reason. Most, if not all, of the work in question falls under prevailed wage requirements. This means the hourly wage and benefit package is set, and the owner (in this case the city) needs to seek the best value for the cost. Accordingly, the IBEW has the best trained, most qualified workers available in the electrical industry, and the city is simply choosing to guarantee the best bang for the taxpayer's buck. That is the beauty of the free market at work. The city is just as free to make the choice of union contractors as not to. Sorry, Dan, that's competition.
Unfortunately, Fagan continues to rely on Rebecca Logan of the Associated Builders & Contractor's Association (ABC) as his primary source on things related to the electrical industry. In my humble opinion, this is his biggest mistake.
Fagan states that the ABC is "an organization working to protect the rights of Alaska's nonunion workers." Nothing could be further from the truth. The ABC is an employer organization, not an employee organization. Logan and ABC's anti-union animus is well documented and extremely transparent. As long as the unions are viable and keep an upward pressure on wages, her contractor members have to pay more competitive (higher) wages.
If unions lose market share in an industry, it puts her contractor members in a position to control (lower) the wages of their employees in the long run. It's simple economics. The truth is, unions, negotiating on behalf of their members, help keep non-union workers' wages higher. A non-union contractors' association fighting for workers' rights is like having the fox protect the henhouse.
Fagan and Logan's logic on how non-union contractors who sign up with the IBEW would be forced to pay double benefits is, at best, laughable. In reality, a contractor would never bid a project that way. Fagan's figures, provided by Logan, just don't pass the straight-face test.
If the city chooses to secure a relationship with the most qualified electrical work force available, and it results in a quality job, done right the first time and at no additional cost to the city, then why the constant gnashing of teeth by Fagan and Logan?
The cries of un-American policy, extortion, anti-competition and socialism make Fagan seem nothing more than a Rush Limbaugh wannabe regurgitating worn-out rhetoric. Fagan's unfettered, unregulated free-market philosophy at any cost is exactly what brought this country to its economic knees.
When Fagan speaks about unions, he likes to use phrases about how unions take the hard-earned cash of workers. If people don't want to pay dues they can get a non-union job.
In fact, those taking American's hard-earned cash have been America's big corporations. American taxpayers just paid $20 billion worth of corporate cash bonuses. President Obama called them shameful! It's your side stealing from the American people, Dan, not mine.
Larry Bell is business manager/financial secretary of IBEW Local 1547 in Anchorage.
By LARRY BELL