LANSING - Issues over construction worker wages are a constant target of Republicans in Michigan, whether it's in the form of proposals to repeal prevailing wage or to institute a right-to-work law.

The latest attempt to attack Hardhat wages comes from State Rep. John Pastor (R-Livonia), who sits on the House Appropriations Committee and the House Joint Capital Outlay Subcommittee (JCOS). Pastor said he wants to kill the use of project labor agreements on construction projects. Most often, such agreements result in union-only contractors.

"It is imperative," Pastor wrote to the president of Western Michigan University, "that the university or community college not use Project Labor Agreements (PLAs), but are still meeting prevailing wage requirements." Pastor said he will "continue to study all projects that come before the committee and make sure that PLAs are not being used…."

Not so fast, said both the state's legal counsel to the governor, and Doug Bennett, former business manager of Plumbers, Pipe Fitters and Service Trades Local 174 in Muskegon, who was elected State Representative, 92nd District last year.

Kelly Keenan, legal counsel to Gov. Jennifer Granholm, said Bennett is "right to be concerned about attempts by JCOS or its members to regulate the conduct of colleges and universities outside of the legislative process."

Keenan said that project labor agreements "can be a sound management technique," and that "decisions regarding the use of PLAs are best made at the college or university level. The Michigan Constitution places such management decisions in the hands of university administrators, not members of legislative committees in Lansing."

Furthermore, Keenan said the state Supreme Court "has indicated that the legislature may not interfere with the management and control of universities and that university governing boards have exclusive control over all university funds."

Typically attacks against project labor agreements and prevailing wage laws are done in the name of cost savings, but numerous academic studies have shown that repeal of such rules have had no effect on costs.

Bennett pointed out that PLAs have been in use in Michigan for many years and have been "successfully negotiated between our institutions of higher education and the building trades labor unions involved in the construction industry."

Bennett asked the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council to pass along the opinion of the governor's counsel to colleges and universities across the state.

"As you can see, Rep. Pastor has no legal basis for his action," Bennett wrote in a letter to MBCTC President Patrick "Shorty" Gleason. "We will continue to watch for any actions in the state legislature that would have an adverse effect on the citizens of our great state."