Unions are challenging a proposal by the state Department of Labor and Industry that could change how wage scales are calculated for Minnesota's 8,500 registered apprentices.

The department is pushing its proposal even though initial responses are 2-1 against the idea, said Jessica Looman, staff attorney for the Laborers District Council of Minnesota and North Dakota, based in Lino Lakes.

The department issued a draft of the proposal Sept. 30. Under department rule-making requirements, the change could take effect as soon as next spring. Idea comes out of ABC. The Laborers, which sponsor the state's largest registered apprenticeship program, are among unions trying to force a more public discussion of the proposal. Changing the journey wage benchmarks on which apprentice wages are based ? as the proposal does ? could lower standards for apprenticeship programs, Looman said.

"A question we're asking the department," Looman said, "is, 'What is the purpose of this proposal?' Why is this necessary? Where is the qualitative and quantitative evidence of how this helps current and future apprentices?"

Unions are even more suspicious because the proposal is in response to a request from the anti-union Associated Builders and Contractors, according to minutes of the Minnesota Apprenticeship Advisory Council.

Will commissioner listen to advisory council?
The advisory council, at its quarterly meeting Oct. 12, rejected a motion encouraging commissioner Scott Brener to move forward with the proposal. Instead, the council urged Brener to hold up and instead convene a meeting of representatives from the council, the department and apprenticeship stakeholders to discuss ramifications of changing wage rules.

The department has scheduled that meeting for Oct. 26.

"We're afraid they're responding to one constituency group without taking into account the impact the change has on the entire industry," Looman said. The change affects not only construction apprentices, she said, but apprentices in manufacturing and other trades, too.

Dick Anfang, president of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades and a member of the advisory council, noted that the council has no real power to block the change, however.

In fact, Looman said, the commissioner has ignored the council's advice on two recent apprenticeship rules changes, both sought by the ABC.

"They've asked for these things and they're getting them moved forward even though they don't have any registered apprentices in the state," Looman said. "They seem to be able to establish policy in the department without actually being a stakeholder."

Impact of change unclear
Currently, apprentice wages are a percentage of journey worker wages, as calculated by the prevailing wage rate for that craft in a geographic area. In some areas of the state, the prevailing rate is essentially union scale, Looman said, though that?s not the case in areas where union density is not high.

The department's proposal sets up an alternative way of calculating journey wages for jobs that are not covered by collective bargaining agreements or by state Davis-Bacon requirements. The new scale is based on median wage data from Occupational Employment Statistics compiled by the federal Bureau of Labor Standards and the state Department of Employment and Economic Development. Its only restriction is that apprentice wages cannot fall below the minimum wage.

Whether using OES data would raise or lower apprentice wages would have to be determined case by case, Looman said.

"The effects are completely unknown, and that's a huge concern to us," she said. "The state's apprenticeship program is one of the best in the country. There are a lot of positive outcomes. We?re afraid it could be undermined by a new system that comes out of nowhere, that no one is familiar with, and that no one uses."

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