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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial><FONT size=2>Unions back pay rule change<SPAN
class=046143317-03052004>: </SPAN></FONT></FONT><FONT face=Arial
size=2>Volunteers would be allowed to work for free on habitat restoration
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>April 20, 2004 </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>By CAROL BENFELL<BR>THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><!--cat: PALM --><!--filename: 20RESTORE --><FONT face=Arial
size=2></FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Labor unions Monday joined environmental
groups in calling for the repeal of a law that requires full pay for volunteers
on state-funded habitat restoration projects. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>"If there are projects that require skilled
labor, those folks should be paid a prevailing wage. We are certainly not trying
to come between volunteers and community groups who have been doing great work
for decades," said Jim Lewis, communications director with the state Building
and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization of 14 trades and
crafts unions. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>Environmentalists welcomed the support.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>"That's great. I'm thrilled. This is
exactly the kind of support we were hoping for," said Michael Wellborn,
president of the board of directors of the California Watershed Network, a
statewide organization. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>"It makes sense that volunteers can provide
support for critical community projects and that labor will obtain an
appropriate wage for their skills," Wellborn said. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>The 2001 law expanded the kinds of projects
that are considered "public works" and for which prevailing wages must be paid.
Hundreds of state projects and millions of dollars in bond money for
environmental projects, authorized by voters as Propositions 40 and 50, are in
limbo until the law is amended. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>That has also put local projects on hold,
including a 4-year effort to restore habitat along Green Valley Creek, a push to
rid the Russian River of invasive Arundo reed, and a hands-on environmental
program for Salmon Creek schoolchildren. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>"We can make the money go so much farther
with volunteers," said Cam Parry, head of a Forestville group that obtained
$94,000 in state grants to restore three miles of Green Valley Creek. "This
would have been a million dollar project if the state had done it."
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>A bill to amend the 2001 law has been
introduced by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, and goes to its first
committee hearing today. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>The state Labor and Workforce Development
Agency, which oversees the Department of Industrial Relations, is also trying to
craft a new law, which could be given to Hancock to use or inserted in another
bill. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>The agency's assistant secretary, Rick
Rice, said he hopes a new law could take effect by July 1, either by tacking the
proposed new law onto an existing budget bill or by persuading legislators to
designate it an urgency measure. Otherwise, the law wouldn't take effect until
Jan. 1, 2005, he said. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>"I think now that workers' comp is off
state, this issue will take center stage," Rice said. "A legislative change has
to be made." </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>The building trades council is working with
both Hancock and the labor agency, Lewis said. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Arial size=2>"We have great hope for a resolution,"
Lewis said. "It has never been the intention of the unions that comprise the
building trades to stop the use of volunteers on these projects."</FONT></DIV>
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