Governor Deval Patrick has once again wasted taxpayer money while missing yet another opportunity. According to an article by Hillary Chabot in today’s Boston Herald, civilian flaggers are earning just over $36 an hour, which is about $4 less than what the average state trooper earns when working a police detail. According to Chabot’s article, that rate is expected to increase $2 an hour in two years. All of the accolades Governor Patrick received, from the public and in the press for taking on the union establishment, were all exaggerated. The fact of the matter is Governor Patrick continues to make promises through his campaign style rhetoric and very rarely delivers. He vowed to take on the police unions and put civilian flaggers to work for the good of the taxpayers and yet here we find out that the state is saving very little if any by using civilians.
Our state needs to have a serious discussion about the prevailing wage here in Massachusetts. We are throwing precious dollars away by paying workers these exorbitant wages. We are absolutely in favor of fair wages, but Democrats in Massachusetts are taking that concept to the extreme. Just recently, we offered an amendment that would have required employees working on projects funded by federal stimulus money to be paid the federal prevailing wage. This effort would have allowed hundreds of millions of dollars to be used more efficiently. The proposal however, was overwhelmingly rejected by the Democrats in the House. It seems any Republican proposal that is good for business is bad for Democrats!
