A Daily Mail editorial from the Charleston Gazette-Mail
CHARLESTON, W.Va. — After months of wrangling and much ink spilled, the state has set new prevailing wage rates for state-funded construction projects.
Are they the “right” rates? Who knows?
But Senate Majority Leader Mitch Carmichael is asking the right question: “Why do we put ourselves through this and twist ourselves into pretzels to determine what the wage rates are?”
The simple answer is that even though they represent a small minority of workers in this state, labor unions still have tremendous influence, especially over certain politicians. And higher-than-market, government-mandated wages are what unions want.
But Carmichael’s question strikes at a deeper truth. Why don’t we have a state Grocery Board to set the “prevailing price” for milk and bread? Or a Media Board to tell you what you must pay for this newspaper…
