KENNEDY AND COLLEAGUES FIGHT BUSH’S DECISION ON DAVIS BACON

Washington, DC: Today Senator Edward Kennedy and his colleagues introduced a bill to rescind the President’s suspension of the Davis Bacon law to ensure that men and women of the Gulf Coast get paid a fair wage as they rebuild the region. On September 8, President Bush suspended Davis-Bacon for contracts related to Katrina, ending prevailing wage protection for thousands of construction workers. Kennedy’s bill would stop the President’s unfair action. “The winds of Katrina exposed to all of America just how much more work is to be done to achieve equality and fairness in this country. We are a stronger country when we are a fairer country. Yet, as the Administration awards billions of dollars in contracts to many of their corporate friends, they decide that the men and women of the Gulf Coast don’t deserve to be paid a fair wage. The victims of Katrina have lost everything, and now President Bush says it is okay for them to lose their fair wages too. This is blatantly unfair -- and we’re fighting it,” Senator Kennedy said. As many as 1 million workers may become jobless, with the unemployment rate reaching 25% or higher in the Gulf region. Many of the good new jobs created will be in the recovery and rebuilding of the area.