GOP nervous about political fallout from cutting prevailing wage, leader says

Republicans who control the state Assembly won’t repeal minimum wages for private-sector workers on government construction projects, but there may be support for changing the law, a top legislative leader said Wednesday.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos told a Milwaukee talk radio host that Republicans in vulnerable districts won’t vote to repeal the prevailing wage law because it would reduce paychecks for too many constituents too soon after legislators approved a controversial right-to-work law.

“While I support the repeal of prevailing wage, (it) is an actual cut in wages to an awful lot of folks around the state, and that’s where I think that a lot of folks in vulnerable districts worry about having taken a vote for right-to-work and then another one that would reduce wages,” Vos, R-Rochester, said on WISN.