John Beckman: Dictating construction wages won’t solve California’s housing crisis

The lack of housing in California is finally getting the attention it deserves from our legislature. The overall lack of housing is hurting all segments of our state from the upper-middle class to the homeless. However, this long overdue attention is not all good-news. Some see this as an opportunity to enhance their power in Sacramento.

Trade-union leaders are using the housing crisis to exhort benefits for themselves at the expense of everyone wishing to rent or buy a home in California. They are attempting to twist the narrative to focus on the wages paid to construction workers while ignoring the costs paid by renters and home buyers.

They argue that workers on a new home should earn enough to buy the home they build. This is a quippy soundbite to change the narrative. Many workers can buy the product they make, but many cannot. Compare the workers who make clothes, cars, pencils, planes, ships and homes. Does that help the discussion?

Prevailing wage is a complex issue, one which cannot be fully discussed on the editorial pages. This issue was simplified by an Assemblymember as, “Unions want their members paid more for their labor than homebuilders want to pay for construction work.”

The real question is not how much should union members earn, but how should construction wages be determined. By the state, or the free market? And which path will solve the housing crisis?

This story was originally published June 22, 2017 at 10:38 AM with the headline "John Beckman: Dictating construction wages won’t solve California’s housing crisis."