President's Column - The Continuing Looting of Katrina Victims

The poor and disenfranchised in Louisiana, Texas and other places hit by the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita are now facing other problems. These problems are not a force of nature but the fact of anti-worker, pro-corporation, give to the big donors’ avarice. In places devastated by the hurricane and the accompanying debacle, President Bush placed another burden or two on their backs. First he announced that the construction work to recover and rebuild would be let usually to the same cast of construction cronies by a no-bid system and that they would be relieved from paying the prevailing wage rate under the Davis-Bacon Act.

In an area where unemployment is at an all time high and with no work to be found, the President proudly announced that the towns will be rebuilt and the “victims” would help in the process. Jobs for all! But at what price?

This reconstruction is federally funded and therefore under the federal “Prevailing Wage Rate”, but the President signed an Executive Order waiving that law. In addition, to pile on the downtrodden, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFFCCP) has waived any requirement for these “no-bid” contractors to have an affirmative action plan. Most of these contractors have had to be in compliance for other federally funded construction in the past, but waiving the requirement that mandates them to have fair hiring practices. To add insult to injury less than 10% of the work will be given to local contractors.

The irony is that the prevailing wage rate for the New Orleans area is around $9.00 per hour and similar around the rest of the stricken areas, which is barely over the poverty level at best. The continuing irony is that less than. A recent study by the Congressional Research Service says that suspension of Davis-Bacon Act wage rules would not necessarily ensure federal contracts hold reconstruction costs in this area. Conservatives and liberals in Congress have been pushing competing measure regarding this issue. Conservatives are pushing legislation that would automatically suspend the wage-protection law in areas designated by the president as disaster areas, while liberals are supporting several bills that would revoke Bush’s suspension of the law. In the Congressional Research Report poses the question,” Perhaps the most frequently asked question concerning the Davis-Bacon act is: would the federal government (and the taxpayer) save money if the Davis-Bacon Act were repealed or modified to narrow its scope? The short answer is: No one really knows. Conversely, might Davis Bacon result in savings to the federal government in its purchase of construction? That too, would seem to be an open question,”CRS argues in “Davis-Bacon Suspension and Its legislative Aftermath.”

According to CRS, drawing conclusions about the law’s effects on contracting costs is impossible because “the state of current research would probably be insufficient to justify just an assertion.”

But the more pointed question is why give contracts to “friends” without competitive bidding, and then to skimp on the wages paid to the workers? It would be much better to give the bulk of the work to the local contractors, make them pay at least the prevailing wage rate. The money would stay in the area and bolster the economy.

The best way for the Bush Administration to rebuild these areas would be to stop the looting of taxpayer dollars, provide the victims of the tragedy a way to help them get out of poverty with dignity and fair wages.

President's Column - Lessons Learned in Disaster

As we sit, our eyes glued to the television, unable to stop watching the human tragedy and suffering caused by Katrina , further complicated by the shear weight of incompetent bureaucracy , you can learn some valuable things about the federal government and federal employees. A short four years after the tragedy of 9-11, our country faces another enormous blow and one which may almost be impossible to survive.

What you can learn, once again, is about the indomitable spirit of the American people. But it is being sorely tested. The death toll is expected to be in thousands, one of the single most devastating death tolls in our nation's history. It could possibly be twice that of all our disasters both natural and war combined for a single incident or event. But the spirit came through, how people helped each other, when the bureaucracy failed. How thousands of people volunteered to go to those states that were hit, just to be left languishing until somebody made a decision. But they volunteered and they helped and they fought.

The spirit of the people in those ravaged areas who fought for life though the tears and the horror, just to be ignored, disenfranchised and left by those who were in charge. But they hung on and helped others. Despite the pictures of "looting" by the blacks and "finding food" for the whites in the same disaster area., the spirit of those people who did not have the means to escape but had the will to survive, and did survive until they were placed in areas of relief, that offered little or none.

Prominent among them were the federal employees who lost everything, some still not accounted for, whose homes and families may be lost. Among them are the hundreds of federal employees who immediately volunteered to go and help either as volunteer firefighters, EMTs, National Guardsman or just private citizens. It was not from the lack of volunteerism that help was late; it was because "somebody" had to make a decision. A decision that took almost 4 days to make… too little, too late!

And for those federal employees who went there because of their duty, it was evident that the delay was not because of any union contract or union work rule. The folks on top couldn't get together. The rationale for this Administration wanting to eliminate or severely curtail union contracts and civil service rights was it would delay any mobilization of federal workforce to face any disaster whether from terrorists or natural disaster. All of this has been delayed by the unions or the courts and so existing contracts are mostly still in effect. And it did not delay the mobilization for a second. Every federal employee, union or otherwise was available, prepared and anxious to go where it was necessary and it was as it always had been, the lack of leadership to make the decision.

Millions have been spent on Homeland Security since 9 11 and plans have been drawn, field exercises have been conducted, analyzed and re-analyzed and re-thought for the past four years... and the first time out of the chute, it failed... not from the lack of planning, not from the constrictions of union contracts but by the shear incompetence of the leadership.

While I could gloat and be content that this proved what our unions were trying to convey to the Congress and Administration was proven to be dead wrong, I can't. I am sickened by the devastation and the loss of lives.

I take little comfort in the fact that federal employees, as well as the thousands of other people were right and our "government" got it all wrong. People should not have had to pay with their lives and others with the loss of all they possess to prove a point that federal workers as well as all Americans will rise to the occasion and not let anything get in the way to help others and survive in spite of the incompetent bureaucracy.