The dust had barely settled on the elections and the resignation of House Speaker Newt Gingrich, before Reed Larson, President of the National Right to Work Committee, called on House Majority Leader Dick Armey to schedule a vote on legislation to outlaw union-security agreements in collective bargaining agreements, BNA’s Construction Labor Report reported in November.

The BNA article said Larson’s letter urged Armey to view the results of the November 3 election in light of Republican leadership’s failure to schedule a vote on so-called "right-to-work" legislation last session.

Both Armey and Gingrich were co-sponsors of H.R. 59, the National Right-to-Work Act that died in committee last session without receiving a public hearing.

So-called "right-to-work" laws outlaw union security clauses in collective bargaining agreements, forcing unions to represent workers who want all the benefits of the contract but who refuse to pay their fair-share of the cost of maintaining the agreement.

While 21 states have so-called right-to-work laws, over the last 33 years only two states — Idaho and Louisiana – have joined the ranks of "right-to-work" states.

Opponents of so-called "right-to-work" laws say the lack of effort by GOP leadership is understandable given the lack of interest for "right-to-work" laws on a state level, and the huge wage and benefit disparity that exists between "right-to-work" states and "free-bargaining" state.

For example, as recently as 1996 an average worker in Wisconsin, — union and non-union alike – earned roughly $3,200 more than the average worker in any "right-to-work" state.

State and federal prevailing wage laws have been around a long time — nearly seventy years to be exact. Granted, there aren’t many building trade workers around who remember what construction was like back then. But, if you want to get a sense for what life in the trades would be like without these laws, ask the Eau Claire building trades who have been dealing with the effects of an Oklahoma based company sweeping into the state to build a private prison facility in Stanley.

Typically, prison construction is done by the state, which means all contractors competing for the work must bid the work based on wages that prevail in the area. But, the prison in Stanley is different – it’s being built privately, on the speculation the state will use it. And, its being built by contractors who bid work based on wages that are less than the prevailing wages established in the area.

According to Tom Grunseth, Business Manager of Laborers’ Local #317 in Eau Claire, laborers on the job are said to be getting $9 an hour, significantly less than the prevailing rate of $16.55. And even that prevailing rate is considerably less than the $21.34 total package rate building laborers were earning prior to June 1 of this year when a wage determination for the project would have been issued.

"If this was a state project every worker would be earning prevailing wages, Grunseth said. "Instead we get a company from Oklahoma taking advantage of people who need the work and undermining our area standards in the process."

Grunseth was referring to the Oklahoma based Dominion Management and Leasing of Edmond, Oklahoma, which has been active in speculative private prison construction and brokering buy-back or lease-back agreements from state or private firms to operate the facility once built.

"We have developed more medium-sized prisons than anyone in the country," boasted Jim Hunter of Dominion in a Chippewa Herald article last June. "Our specialty is speculative development. It seems fairly bold, but we have been very successful."

Successful may be an understatement. Dominion is just one of a growing number of firms that comprise what a current article in the Atlantic Monthly calls a multi-billion dollar "prison-industrial complex."

"What was once a niche business for a hand-full of companies has become a multibillion-dollar industry with its own trade-shows and conventions, its own web sites, mail order catalogues, and direct marketing campaigns," writes Eric Schlosser in the December Atlantic Monthly.

In the article, Dominion is cited as a "well established bed broker" that can make as much as $2.50 to $5.50 a day per prisoner for arranging and/or selling beds. On a facility the size of the 1200 bed Stanley prison, that’s over $2.4 million a year.

Like any good speculator, Dominion has chosen Wisconsin because of its market potential. The state Department of Corrections as recently as August of this year reported more than 14,000 prisoners in state sponsored facilities. At the same time, the inmate capacity of these facilities stood at 10,237.

According to Department of Corrections spokesperson William Clausius the inmate population is expected to continue to rise. Quoted recently in the Chippewa Herald, Clausius estimated that "In terms of new beds, we would have to build a new prison every year just to keep up."

Grunseth agrees that citizens deserve to feel safe in their communities and that prison construction is necessary to obtain that goal. His concern, however, is the dramatic and negative impact that low-wage private prison construction will have on future wage rates in the area.

Prevailing wage rates in a county are based on private sector work. Given the size and duration of the project, and the low wages paid on the project, the $40 to $50 million Stanley Prison will more than likely lower wage rates issued for Chippewa County over the next two years.

The Stanley Prison is the first privately built prison in Wisconsin. While Dominion has not yet reached a buy-back or lease agreement with the state, and it is unclear what, if anything, Dominion will be able to do with the facility should a deal with the state fall through, the precedent for a private build-it-and-they-will-come prison construction strategy has been established.

Should a buy-back or lease-back deal with the state go forward, some argue an even greater precedent will be established – paying construction workers less than area standard wage rates on a project that for all practical purposes should have been a public works project.

The Laborers’ Political and Legislative Action Network, recognizes the following members for their participation in grassroots legislative and political action on behalf of Laborers and their families statewide.

Leonard Streich, Michael Neuenfeldt, Bill Johnson, Gene Kimpfbeck, Russ Leaman, Donald Lee, Daryl Foren, Ron Burnski, David Ashley, Robert Barker, Joel Bechitsao, Howard Cooper, Sean Maher, Gary Janicki, Charlie Fecteau, Marty Kalising, Jim Annis, Stephen Lerner, Richard Lidberg, Alvin Ross, Rodney Glinski, Earnest Mitchell, Freddie Washington, Peter Rake, John Schmitt, and Nacarsi Feaster, Local 113, volunteer work on state/federal races.

Jim Bugbee; Ben Grunseth; Tom Grunseth; and Tim Thompson, Local 317, volunteer work on state/federal races.

John Krauss, Local 392, volunteer work on state/federal races.

Tom Fisher and Joe Oswald, Local 464, Volunteer work on 2nd Congressional District race.

Conrad Umentum, Local 539, volunteer work on 8th Congressional race.

Doug Aunet; Frank Boyle; Ron Christensen; Jo O’Brien; Glen Teppo; and Ralph Wicklund, Local 1050, volunteer work on various election campaigns.

Mike Grater; Tom Klein, Jerry McEvoy; Jim Miller; Jeff Moulton; Dennis Pflum; Mike Schwandt; Randee Waltz; and Delbert Woelfel, Local 1086, Volunteer work on state/federal races.

Loren Bloyd, Local 1407, volunteer work on state/federal races.