What's fair about raising taxes on the poor to overpay the upper-middle class?

Patrick Devlin, Chief Executive of the Michigan Building and Construction Trades Council, writes in a Detroit News editorial: "Michigan's Prevailing Wage Act ensures workers who build our roads, bridges and schools are paid a fair wage so they can contribute to the economy and provide for their families."

Mr. Devlin: There's nothing "fair" about fleecing working class Michiganders so that contractors working for the state can make 30% more than those in the private sector. There's nothing "fair" about raising taxes on poor Michiganders and prohibit competitive bidding in order to protect the disgustingly overpriced wages that state contractors are paid. There's nothing "fair" about a worker in the private industry having his net salary slashed by the state in order to keep the artificially inflated salary of a worker doing the exact same job for a government contract and making substantially more for it.

State's prevailing wage law ensures fair pay
The Detroit News

Michigan's Prevailing Wage Act ensures workers who build our roads, bridges, and schools are paid a fair wage so they can contribute to the economy and provide for their families.

However, lately it's become open season on workers here in Michigan. The latest episode as Chris Fisher's guest column in The Detroit News ("Killing wage law helps budget and creates jobs," Oct. 11).

When you pay Michigan workers measly wages with little to no benefits, everybody loses.

Remember, the hardworking construction and trade workers who are building Michigan's 21st century infrastructure are taxpayers, too. When you pay them a pittance, the economy shrinks.