BUSINESSES URGE END TO PREVAILING WAGE LAW

Government could help small businesses by abolishing the prevailing wage law and enacting a right-to-work law, business leaders and economic development officials said Wednesday.

The federal prevailing wage law and a companion law in Missouri lead to more costly public works projects, said Bill Green, Sikeston's economic development director.

"It is ridiculous. It increases the cost of the project on average about 40 percent," he said.

Labor costs are as much as $6 less an hour for a public works project performed by Sikeston city crews as opposed to similar work by a private contractor where the prevailing wage law applies, Green said.

More than 30 business and economic development representatives from the region met with U.S. Rep. Jo Ann Emerson at Southeast Missouri State University. They came at the invitation of the Cape Girardeau Republican. Emerson said she hopes to meet quarterly with the region's business leaders to look at ways government can help boost the business climate.

Business leaders from the east side of the district attended the morning meeting at Southeast's business school.

A second session was scheduled for later in the day at West Plains to hear the advice of business leaders from the western side of the sprawling district.

Emerson said she would work to get "the pit bull regulators" off the backs of business.

She predicted lawmakers would cut the capital gains tax and at least raise the threshold at which the so-called death tax kicks in.

"We're hopeful we can make some tax changes for home-based businesses," said Emerson, who sits on the Small Business Committee in the House.

Brad Jones, state director for the National Federation of Independent Business, said Missouri needs to come up with a bill that provides financial breaks for employers who hire welfare recipients as part of the effort to get people off the welfare rolls.

Congress, he said, needs to eliminate the burdensome regulations that tie the hands of home-based businesses and makes them a target of the Internal Revenue Service.

The business federation has some 600,000 members nationally, including 12,000 in Missouri.

The organization backed Emerson's successful election campaign last fall.

The business leaders and economic development officials met in two groups during part of the morning session and came up with several suggestions.

Green and others said Missouri needs a right-to-work law. All of Missouri's neighboring states, except for Illinois, have right to work laws.

Such laws ban union shops where employees are forced to contribute to the union.

After the meeting, Green said the strong opposition of organized labor would make it difficult to scrap prevailing wage laws and secure a right-to-work law in Missouri. But he said he would like a local option where cities or counties could enact right-to-work legislation.

"To me, it is simply a question of whether or not the employee should be able to decide if he wants to belong to a labor union," Green said.

Tom Tucker, a regional planner, said the federal prevailing wage law is archaic. In many parts of Southeast Missouri, construction workers are being paid at the same wage rate for public works projects as labor costs in St. Louis, he said.

More public works improvements could be made if labor costs weren't as high, he said. "There is no bargain basement here," said Tucker.

Business leaders said government regulators and businesses need to work together.

Businesses need to develop programs with the schools that emphasize the work ethic and teach students about the free enterprise system, said Kathy Brown. Brown manages the Procter and Gamble plant in Cape Girardeau County.

She and other business leaders said the region also needs better roads.