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Today is now Pay Cut Day for West Virginia’s construction workers, West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue said.

“At a time when the focus should be on building our state’s infrastructure and supporting our local workforce, the Senate President and House Speaker have chosen to play politics with the pay of West Virginia workers, resulting in confusion and disruption within the state’s construction industry,” President Perdue said.

The Republicans on the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Government and Finance voted in June to deny WorkForce West Virginia’s request for an extension in calculating a fair market minimum hourly wage for state projects above $500,000, as directed by legislation adopted this year. As a result of that action, taken over the objection of Democrat members, the existing Prevailing Wage expired as of July1.

“The Prevailing Wage protects local workers and local contractors,” Affiliated Construction Trades Director Steve White said. “Beginning today, workers on public projects will face unfair wages and unfair competition from out-of-state contractors. Shame on the co-chairs of the Joint Committee on Government and Finance for denying WorkForce West Virginia the time needed to determine what the local market is paying and to ensure the best use of state taxpayer money.”

Both White and Perdue join Governor Earl Ray Tomblin in urging the legislative leadership to reconsider denying the extension.

“The Legislature directed WorkForce West Virginia to undertake a complex process that is vitally important to West Virginia’s construction industry, infrastructure needs and workers,” Perdue said. “The Republican legislative leadership owes it to West Virginia taxpayers to allow adequate time to complete that process.”

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CHARLESTON  -- Kanawha Valley residents can help fight hunger in the region by simply placing non-perishable food donations by their mailboxes on Saturday, May 9, that will be collected by letter carriers and distributed locally to those in need.

“Many of our neighbors, including seniors, veterans and children, go hungry every day,” noted Letter Carrier and Charleston resident Cathy Jones. “For 22 years, letter carriers across the country have organized this effort to help food pantries stock their shelves, and to increase awareness of this ongoing problem.”

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wvgazette.com

HARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The West Virginia AFL-CIO will hold a ceremony at the state Capitol to remember workers who died on the job last year.

The 27th Workers Memorial Day ceremony is set for noon Tuesday. Local and state workers and union representatives will attend the ceremony in front of the West Virginia Coal Miner Statue.

West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue says the event will honor 17 West Virginians who died at work in 2014.

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CHARLESTON -- To celebrate the completion of a new apartment building designed to provide the physically disabled with independent living accommodations, representatives of several groups that contributed to its design and construction held a ceremonial ribbon cutting today.

“This project provides some much-needed, centrally located living space for people who face physical challenges,” West Virginia AFL-CIO President Kenny Perdue noted.

Named in honor of longtime attorney Patrick Maroney -- who through his work as General Counsel to the WVAFL-CIO and as a state and community leader has dedicated decades of service on behalf of fair housing and employment -- the Thomas Patrick Maroney Unity Apartments contains 13 one-bedroom accessible apartments, which include kitchens and bathrooms designed to accommodate people with mobility challenges.

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By Kenny Perdue

I must admit, at the outset of the 2015 regular legislative session, I was taken aback by the outright hostility and disrespect directed toward working people and the unions who represent them. I was troubled by opinion pieces in Charleston newspapers from a coal industry/big business representative, a corporate labor attorney and a former legislator that not only included untruths, but in a few instances, base mean-spiritedness.

But in the end, I’m grateful.

When faced with that reality, and the realization that the majority of legislators in office right now favor large corporate interests over the well being, safety and way of life of the middle class and working poor, West Virginians turned out by the thousands at the state Capitol March 7.

They demanded that the truth be told about a bill with the word “Safety” in the title that instead reversed mine safety regulations, and legislation called “Right to Work” that would lower wages and limit options in the workplace.