After over two years of aggressive lobbying MITA has been successful in its’ efforts to convince the US Department of Labor (USDOL) that the MITA “Underground” rates should be incorporated in the Davis-Bacon Act, Michigan “Heavy” wage determinations (HWDs). In late October the USDOL published the Michigan HWDs that formally reincorporated the MITA negotiated “Underground” rates for underground work.
For years the MITA “Underground” rates had been rightfully included in the Michigan HWDs. But in 2011, when the USDOL published the new HWDs that were based on their 2003-04 Michigan survey results, the MITA rates were gone. For yet unexplained reasons, the USDOL had decided at that time to predominately incorporate only the AGC “Building” negotiated wage rates for the trade classifications where a collectively bargained wage prevailed in the survey. As the incorporated AGC “Building” rates were typically higher than the MITA “Underground” rates, this USDOL decision created the underisible situation where on federal prevailing wage projects contractors were required to pay significantly higher wages for underground work that was covered by the MITA agreements. For the unknowing contractor who may have bid the MITA “Underground” rates, this situation could have resulted in thousands of dollars in restitution being owed to workers.
In acknowledging the validity of MITA’s position and request that our negotiated rates be included in the HWDs for underground work, the USDOL added new scope of work type categories to the Power Equipment Operator and Laborer worker classifications. For the Power Equipment Operator classification an “Underground Construction (Including Sewer)” work type was added for the pieces of power equipment identified in the survey; and for the Laborer classification an “Open Cut Construction” work type was added for the worker classifications identified in the survey.
“This was a very heavy lift and a great win for MITA,” says Mike Nystrom, MITA’s Executive Vice President, “Anytime you are trying to change the mind of the federal government it is a huge challenge. In this case the MITA staff was tenacious in their efforts that included dealings with USDOL in Lansing, Detroit, Grand Rapids, Chicago, and ultimately their headquarters in Washington where the final resolution was worked out.”
MITA’s request to include the MITA “Underground” rates in the HWDs for underground work was supported by the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 324, the Michigan Laborers’ District Council, the Michigan Department of Transportation, several county and local owner agencies, and the AGC of Michigan.
Although MITA has conducted several review iterations of the recently published HWDs to ensure their accuracy with the current underground agreements, we encourage all MITA member contractors to continue to be diligent in your pre-bid review of HWDs (or any wage determination for that matter) that may be included in a project you are bidding. Regardless of your signatory status to any collective bargaining agreement, the prevailing wage listed in the project proposal will always be the minimum wage that must be paid.
If you have any questions about the updated HWDs, do not hesitate to contact Glenn Bukoski at glennbukoski@mi-ita.com or Doug Needham at douglasneedham@mi-ita.com or call them in the MITA office at 517-347-8336.
