Why have wages in the private construction industry stalled over the past 20 yrs?

We always liked prevailing wage jobs....It was always a win-win...The employees got paid more & the employer made more...Today; More than ever in the region I began in where "regular" pay is still $15, (20yrs later) & prev. is now $44

Old school I'll bite I agree with you 100%. Couldn't have said it better myself.

Way back when, the union roofers all did the flat work and the carpenters did the shingle work. Shingles were the responsibility of the carpenters. Now with the single ply roofs, very little hot is done any more and most of the roofers are long gone. There are no union "roofers" around here any more. We still have the carpenters though. I don't get involved with the politics of it all. Most of our work is building and so it is not an issue. I would not take any crap from anyone personally. I tell them to go pack sand!

When I was a union contractor back in the early 80's, I went through the roofers union and they were in a turf war battling the carpenters union. They wanted me to inform them if I saw any union carpenters doing any roof work other than nailing on battens.

I only had three or four union jobs in a row and didn't want to get involved with their political battles.

We are in the carpenters union and we just use the regular scale. Bennies ae the same. I cut my teeth on shingling and any job I work on will be done perfectly. As a rule, you are going to get a better quality worker through the union than off the street. With that said, there are a bunch of "union" workers that could not qualify to polish your shoes.

Nothing is perfect for sure, but the trick is to keep going through the ranks to find the one that works best for you. The beauty of the union system is that at least when yhou get a good one, they are motivated to work because they are geting paid a real wage with benefits to do it. I would want to be paid like that and I am sure most other good workers would too. If you are going to do the quality work, you should be compensated for it.

OS: I don't know about the Roofers, but the Carpenters union has a different pay scale for their residential division. Don't know 'bout bennies. Same I'd guess I do know that Roofers have a different "Program" for residential contractors. I assume it leans toward piece work.

I almost always lose out when I go against one local lower priced union guy. Not sure what his story is. ...... The only job I beat him on was for a homeowner who is Union.

OTOH, I'd sure like to see the Union guys who shingled our local library come back and fix their mistakes. At their cost of course.

Illegals don't care about health insurance, nor any long-term benefits...They're simply here to extract the most $ they can in the shortest time frame, then ultimately return to Mexico.

That's what's stalled wages.

Wasn't the NRCA or possibly a union recently begining to pander to illegals? That's next...Just wait!

Wow, no "bites" on that one eh? Lets put it this way; We in the carpenters and laborers unions are looking for highly skilled and or trainable workers that are interested in doing quality work in a safe manner with appropriate compensation. This compensation includes medical insurance, retirement benefits, training, and above average wages. (see above) We are also eligible for unemployment benefits when we are off work.

Depending on where you live, the wages may not be that much higher that "normal" $20-25 dollars per hour, but the added benefits make up the rest of the difference.

You don't see many "undocumented" workers trying to get into the union. Chances are if you have union workers on your job, they are not illegals, they are not "subs" they are not 1099'ed, they have been trained to work safely, and they will give you 8 hours of work for 8 hours of pay. Anything over 8 hours is 1 1/2 time too. We are union and we do EXCELLENT work.

Because everyone keeps bashing the unions and they are the ones that have always led the fight for better wages and benefits. Less union membership = lower wages overall. My thoughts anyway.

At least in the building trades!