Search News
For the Media
For media inquiries, call CWA Communications at 202-434-1168 or email comms@cwa-union.org. To read about CWA Members, Leadership or Industries, visit our About page.
Bush Forced to Back Off Scheme to Cut Workers' Pay
Realizing he'd crossed one too many lines when he slashed workers' wages in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, President Bush yielded to fire from labor and members of Congress and reinstated the Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law.
Bush suspended the federal law within two weeks of Hurricane Katrina, guaranteeing even fatter profits for contractors - including Halliburton and its subsidiaries - while workers who had lost everything in the storm could be paid as little as the minimum wage.
The 74-year-old law protects workers' wages by requiring contractors on federal projects to pay the prevailing wage. For construction workers in New Orleans, the prevailing wage is only $9, but even that was too much for Bush.
His action caused an uproar in the labor movement and among worker-friendly members of both parties in Congress, who were poised to pass a resolution forcing Bush to reinstate the law.
"President Bush finally realized that his Gulf Coast wage cut was a bad idea that hurt the workers and their families," Representative George Miller (D-Calif.) said. "But let me be clear - the president is backing down only because he had no other choice."
The AFL-CIO says working families sent more than 350,000 e-mails and letters to their representatives demanding they take action to restore Davis-Bacon.
"It was fundamentally wrong for the Bush administration to hit workers when they were down by slashing wages, exacerbating the very poverty that the hurricanes exposed," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.
But noting other workers' rights Bush has stripped, Sweeney said restoring Davis-Bacon is just step one. "He must now reinstate affirmative action requirements for contractors in the Gulf and end his attempts to slash programs for working families while adding new tax breaks for the rich," he said.
Bush suspended the federal law within two weeks of Hurricane Katrina, guaranteeing even fatter profits for contractors - including Halliburton and its subsidiaries - while workers who had lost everything in the storm could be paid as little as the minimum wage.
The 74-year-old law protects workers' wages by requiring contractors on federal projects to pay the prevailing wage. For construction workers in New Orleans, the prevailing wage is only $9, but even that was too much for Bush.
His action caused an uproar in the labor movement and among worker-friendly members of both parties in Congress, who were poised to pass a resolution forcing Bush to reinstate the law.
"President Bush finally realized that his Gulf Coast wage cut was a bad idea that hurt the workers and their families," Representative George Miller (D-Calif.) said. "But let me be clear - the president is backing down only because he had no other choice."
The AFL-CIO says working families sent more than 350,000 e-mails and letters to their representatives demanding they take action to restore Davis-Bacon.
"It was fundamentally wrong for the Bush administration to hit workers when they were down by slashing wages, exacerbating the very poverty that the hurricanes exposed," AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said.
But noting other workers' rights Bush has stripped, Sweeney said restoring Davis-Bacon is just step one. "He must now reinstate affirmative action requirements for contractors in the Gulf and end his attempts to slash programs for working families while adding new tax breaks for the rich," he said.