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A new study shows health disparities cost Texas billions of dollars; Senate rejects impeachment articles against Mayorkas, ending trial against Cabinet secretary; Iowa cuts historical rural school groups.

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The Senate dismisses the Mayorkas impeachment. Maryland Lawmakers fail to increase voting access. Texas Democrats call for better Black maternal health. And polling confirms strong support for access to reproductive care, including abortion.

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Rural Wyoming needs more vocational teachers to sustain its workforce pipeline, Ohio environmental advocates fear harm from a proposal to open 40-thousand forest acres to fracking and rural communities build bike trail systems to promote nature, boost the economy.

Carpenters Unions: Tax Fraud, Wage Theft Harm IA Workers, Taxpayers

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Thursday, April 15, 2021   

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- Union leaders and workers are calling on Iowa lawmakers to take action to curb tax fraud and wage theft in the construction industry.

Nationwide, an estimated $450 billion in tax revenue is lost to fraud every year.

Felicia Hilton, political director for the North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters in Iowa, said stronger enforcement is needed to prevent companies from paying substandard wages or no wages at all.

She contended they also keep pay off the books, or misclassify workers to avoid paying for unemployment insurance and workers compensation.

"You have some job sites that have all the compliance, and then you have other job sites that have no compliance," Hilton explained. "So, they don't have the 10-hour OSHA training, they don't have workers comp, they're getting paid cash or a 1099, or in a lot of cases, not paid at all."

Iowa state senators have introduced a bill which would require names and contact information for contractors to be filed with the labor commissioner, with penalties for violations.

Today, the union holds a Tax Fraud Day of Action, to call attention to the practices it argued not only harm workers, but undercut legitimate contractors.

Adam Duininck, director of government affairs for Council, said oftentimes, tax fraud and wage theft go undetected because of the nature of construction work.

"One day you're on one job site, and maybe a week or two later, you're in another city, you're doing a different job," Duininck observed. "It moves around so much, sometimes it's easy for people to kind of just miss, not even see."

Hilton noted many people don't understand the gravity of the wage theft problem.

She pointed to a case in Cedar Rapids last fall, when workers who were brought up from Texas to help rebuild after the derecho storm went about a month without pay.

Workers' rights groups and labor unions supported them in picketing the construction project, and eventually, the company paid them what they were owed.

"We're not talking about a little bit of money," Hilton stressed. "These nine workers were paid over $33,000 in back wages, and that was just through pressure. They're saying that they hope that this helps other workers not be afraid to say something when this happens."

Disclosure: North Central States Regional Council of Carpenters contributes to our fund for reporting on Livable Wages/Working Families, and Social Justice. If you would like to help support news in the public interest, click here.


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