Illinois prevailing wage *Update*

Too what jobs did the Prevailing Wage apply?

Boundary Surveys?
Design Surveys?
Construction Surveys?
etc.

Private work?
Commercial work?
Government work?

did it apply to the whole state?

Prevailing would apply to those jobs supported by federal funds. Also jobs funded by a municipality(Sp?) that declares that project is a prevailing wage project. I just got done working on one in southern cook county. A survey worker classification was supposed to get $35.75-$37.75 per hr. plus benefits. For a instrument man/rodman that is pretty good money. (p.s. I was getting paid more because I was licensed) and that is under a different set of rules. Beware of temp agencies that get you on a job like these they usually don't understand the rules dealing with prevailing wage. And most of the minority contractors do not pay prevailing wage because they know the General contractor won't turn them because they are afraid that they will be sued by the minority contractor for being (racist, or sexist). Also the Davis-Bacon Act would clarify the details that I failed to mentioned or messed up on.:-S

[sarcasm]Heaven forbid that a Survey Tech make as much as a plumber or even a (gasp)laborer....[/sarcasm]

This thread is edging closer and closer to politics...

My intent is discussing wages of surveyors, specifically comparing them to others that may be involved on the same projects, not politics.

I found the Cook County Prevailing Wage for April 2014

Should surveyors work themselves into the poor house?

> [sarcasm]Heaven forbid that a Survey Tech make as much as a plumber or even a (gasp)laborer....[/sarcasm]

:good:

Yeah ... what a great victory for techs who aspire to be surveyors. And we sometimes wonder why it's a "dying profession". Maybe it's because the bosses don't see the value in paying good people a fair wage, so the good people find another field to work in.

So, a "Survey Worker" wages are towards the bottom of the pay scale. That's a disgrace. I am not sure what IPLSA's motive is here. Are they trying to protect their member's prices of $400 lot surveys? God forbid if they would have to double their prices.

What is the educational requirements for obtaining a license in Illinois?

yes please stop whinning

Please stop crying like a little baby and take some personal responsibility.I do not want to hear anymore of your pathetic sniveling about not being to able to move to the promise land of TEXAS..... send us a postcard and tell us how wonderful everything is when you get there....BTW all this belongs in Politics

yes please stop whinning

I don't know about that Dane, i disagree with you. But maybe I'm blind . There's been many discussions on wages and prices on this board in the past and I bet there will be more.

P & R?

It's not P&R unless Wendell says it is.

Dave

P & R?

The thread got off to a bad start. If the OP had merely posted the informational item, it would have been fine, but the editorial that went along with it is hard to interpret as anything but political.

> [sarcasm]Heaven forbid that a Survey Tech make as much as a plumber or even a (gasp)laborer....[/sarcasm]

:good:

what Texas is not the promise land ?

Really Texas is not the promise land? Okay I am worng then.

Personally, I would like to see the prevailing wage be $100 an hour. The higher the better.

Essentially, it creates a floor for a bid. So why does anyone care?

The fact that in many states the prevailing wage for a construction laborer is higher than a second on a survey crew is a very bad thing.

In WA state jobs, prevailing wage applies to construction work. Boundary, topo, design surveys, as builts, these can all be addressed under the professional services part of the law.

> Boundary, topo, design surveys, as builts, these can all be addressed under the professional services part of the law.

That wouldn't fly in CA. If the work is even in anticipation of a public works project, it's Prevailing Wage.

A colleague is currently being sued over construction staking they've been doing on a project over the last 8 years. He initially told his private-sector client that he thought it should be PW, but he client said no, it's not, so they haven't been paying PW. One of the unions has challenged the interpretation -- in my opinion there was never any question that it was PW -- and my colleague is staring at the possibility of having to pay $500k in back wages, not to mention penalties.

Oops.

P & R?

No, not P&R.

More business than anything.

Prevailing wage pushes companies to be more efficient. You have to be if you're charging more.

Better to see a job be won on efficiencies as opposed to paying the help poorly.

For those who may not not understand the implications and negative impact of the Department of Labor making a ruling at the request of a labor union to not only add surveyor to the many definitions of a laborer, but to create a new labor category of "survey worker", let me offer a few items to consider:

under the original decree of the DOL any work performed for construction staking on any public works project required the employer to adhere to rates of pay as stated in monthly publications for each county

the decree meant all hours worked on each project by each employee for every day's work in a particular county had to be documented and certified payroll submitted for proof of compliance

while one one hand the hourly rate for the second man on the crew was approx $26 and for the "foreman" a rate of $27.30; on the other hand imagine the nightmare of tracking the reversing of roles on the jobsite and the crew stopping on numerous projects sites per day in different counties....which is not unusual....and on the third hand imagine the problems created by the crew chief knowing they are only be paid $1.30 more per hour than their understudy....and on the fourth hand imagine the discourse created when a firm has a "prevailing wage" crew for public works projects and a regular rate crew for private work

the hourly rate of the scond man, or survey helper / rodman, as per the DOL decree is about $8 per hour more than standard wages in many counties

the basis of the complaint which was upheld by the Cook County Court was that suveying in all forms is a professional service and has been recognized as such for more than 70 years by the US Department of Labor

The NSPS and ACEC is fully supportive of the complaint filed by IPLSA, several other design professions and a few state-wide contractor associations

do you want your state telling your firm what you must pay any employee for professional services?...and how you must calculate what constitutes as wages and benefits? having a DOL make changing and conflicting rulings on definitions and interpretations of definitions is not healthy for any private business and makes it impossible to make business decisions based on moving targets

we have a minimum wage in effect in every state, and the current average "survey worker / laborer" already makes 2.5 times the minimum wage requirement

the Prevailing Wage Act was originally brought into law to protect contractors from paying sub-standard wages to employees on state-funded projects, and if the average survey technician is making 2.5 times the minimum wage rate I believe the worker is being compensated in a fair and equitable manner and does not require a state agency to promote a union message

Simply put, the current system isn't broke.... so don't try to fix it.

No other State, to my knowledge, includes any surveyor classification under a Prevailing Wage Requirement and the US Department of Labor holds surveying as a profession and exempt from the Davis-Bacon Act

Leave the professional status of the profession alone.

My personal opinions and yours truly,

Jim Abbitt
2014 IPLSA President