The Blows of Katrina and the GOP

Bush used Hurricane Katrina as an excuse to dispose of more than seven decades of labor law by suspending the Davis-Bacon law. This allows Katrina contractors to hire employees at whatever wages the depressed local conditions might warrant. It’s akin to slave wages as there is no market competition left due to the Hurricane.

Congressman Gil Gutknecht from Minnesota was among the initial group who requested that President Bush suspend the prevailing wage law in parts of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida.

Workers in these battered regions will now suffer a double blow. First they lose their homes and their possessions. And now, they’ll be paid substandard wages.

Instead of putting a cap on the profits contractors make from Hurricane Katrina, this administration of thieves have denied the victims the chance to work their way back to their former standard of living.