Since 2006, contractors have been removing contaminated industrial sediment from the Ashtabula River. Problem is, Attorney General Dann says,19 subcontractors on the project have been shorting their workers between $10-15 an hour. A 70-year-old law says construction jobs that get state dollars must give union-negotiated wages to all their workers. Dann says business has enjoyed lax state enforcement of the so-called 'prevailing wage law' for at least 12 years.
Marc Dann: When it becomes cheaper to cheat there is no incentive to comply with the law.
Dann's about to make it a lot more expensive, vowing to get penalties on top of back pay from violators. The Associated Builders and Contractors of Northern Ohio has been lobbying to kill the law. Spokesman Ryan Martin says it's so complex that it's easy for even well-intentioned companies to accidentally violate it.
Ryan Martin: It adds a burden of cost, a burden of time, its no wonder businesses don't thrive in Ohio with these archaic laws, its insane.
Martin says none of the contractors listed in the settlement were his members. Dann says the prevailing wage law ensures the best work for taxpayer money. I'm Mhari Saito, 90.3.