Building Trades unions will ask an administrative law judge on Feb. 27 to block a new rule proposed by the Department of Labor and Industry ? a rule unions say will reduce apprentice wages, weaken the apprenticeship system, and undermine construction wages statewide.

"This is a sanctioned way to erode the prevailing wage," said Jessica Looman, staff attorney for the Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota, which runs the largest apprenticeship program in Minnesota. "What this really says is, 'We don't care about apprentices.'"

Hearing put rule in judge's hands
The Division of Labor Standards and Apprenticeship formally proposed the rule on Jan. 13. The final proposal modifies an earlier draft, but still opens the door for the state to change how it calculates the journeyman wage rate on which apprentice wages are based.

Changing the journeyman benchmark will allow nonunion contractors to pay workers less, while pocketing more money themselves, said Dick Anfang, president of the Minnesota State Building and Construction Trades Council. "There's little consideration of whether it benefits current or future apprentices."

Building Trades unions and union contractors filed hundreds of written requests to force the issue to a hearing Feb. 27.

That hearing, before administrative law judge Richard C. Luis, begins at 9:30 a.m. in St. Paul.

After hearing testimony and reviewing written arguments, Luis alone will decide the fate of the rule change this spring.

Undermining wages
The proposed change is part of a broader attack on construction wages, said Scott Malcolm, executive secretary-treasurer of the Lakes and Plains Regional Council of Carpenters, which runs the second-largest apprentice program in the state.

Dick Anfang (right), president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Council, laughs as he delivers more than 5,000 cards and letters requesting a hearing on the state's proposed rule change on journeyman and apprentice wages. Jerry Briggs (left), director of apprenticeship in the Department of Labor and Industry smiled as he noted, "You only need 25." Helping with the delivery were Stan Theis, president of Plumbers Local 34; Brian Winkelaar, political organizer for IBEW Local 110; and Mark Wickstrom (not shown), apprenticeship coordinator for Bricklayers Local 1.

Nonunion contractors simply want permission to pay their workers less and still be able to call them "apprentices," he said. "I think it opens up another avenue to abuse workers and limit their wages."

Over time, Malcolm said, the proposed rule would make it more difficult for union contractors to compete with nonunion outfits able to pay substandard wages.

By lowering apprentice wages, Looman said, the proposed rule actually could make construction careers less attractive to workers, which would defeat a primary purpose of the state apprenticeship system in the first place.

Contractors seek cheaper labor
The Department of Labor and Industry says the proposed rule is necessary to expand the number of apprentices in the state, especially among potential sponsors of nonunion programs.

Department statistics show that programs sponsored by the anti-union Associated Builders and Contractors have yet to register a single apprentice in Minnesota. Meanwhile, union-sponsored programs have more than 8,500 apprentices registered. Their programs grew by more than 900 in the last six months of 2005.

Nonunion contractors, the department says in its official findings, claim current wage requirements make it "economically unfeasible" for them to participate. Under current rules, the department says, nonunion contractors can find themselves paying third- and fourth-year apprentices more than they pay their own journeymen on private-sector jobs.

Looman challenges that excuse. "The economic viability of contractors is not what apprenticeship is supposed to be about," she said. "It's supposed to be about providing the state with trained, skilled workers. But this isn't a group that wants trained, skilled workers. They just want cheap labor."

A favor from Pawlenty?
Labor and Industry is pursuing the rule change despite the objection of the state's own Apprenticeship Advisory Council. That's because the Pawlenty administration is pushing the rule as a favor to the ABC, which has been unable to advance the rule change legislatively, the Building Trades' Anfang said.

By law, apprentices are paid an increasing percentage of the journeyman wage, depending on how far along they are in their training. The journeyman wage is now based on the state-certified prevailing wage for a particular craft in a particular geographic area.

The rule change would allow the department to consider other factors in certifying the journeyman wage. But that only adds confusion, Anfang said. "It doesn't provide a definite wage. It gives 'options' and 'considerations.' "Rules are put in place to proved clarity ? not confusion ? and to support the intent of the law. This does neither," he said.

Adapted from The Union Advocate, the official newspaper of the St. Paul Trades and Labor Assembly. E-mail The Advocate at: advocate@stpaulunions.org