:: rawblogXport ::

:: Wednesday, June 23, 2004 ::

Wasteful or worthwhile, Wicks law endures By JAY GALLAGHER, The Journal News.com, NY
"If there was not a Wicks law, I would go out of business," said Louis Coppola, whose plumbing firm, L.J. Coppola of Thornwood, did the plumbing work at White Plains High School.

"I don't like to be shopped on every price I put in," he said. With Wicks, "I can bid what I think the job is worth and if I don't get it I move on."

More important politically than the subcontractors are the union plumbers, electricians and sheet metal workers, many of whom earn more than $60 an hour on projects like this. They also don't want the law changed.

"The main concern for union members working for subcontractors is there are places in the state where there are no union general contractors," said Denis Hughes, president of the state AFL-CIO, which opposes any change. "They purposely don't want union guys on the job. So a union contractor will never get the work without Wicks."

Law boosts building costs; Firms liable whenever worker injured in fall By JAY GALLAGHER, Utica Observer Dispatch, NY
Because of a unique New York statute known as 'the scaffold law' that holds builders absolutely liable in most instances for injuries caused by falls on work sites, some contractors are having trouble getting liability insurance. And when they can get it, it is so expensive that it adds as much as $10,000 to the cost of building a home, they say.

posted 6:20 AM :: reference link :: 0 comments ::

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