Home About FLAC How You Can Help Final AB931 Electrical Certification Regs FLAC's FAQ's The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Join FLAC Contact Us   "Title 8"Apprenticeship law - "Section 208" The California Apprenticeship Council is still very aggressively attempting to amend Section 208 of the existing apprenticeship regulations to apply prevailing wage determinations to the wages of apprentices working on private jobs. The goal of the CAC is to have these amended regulations approved and effective by January 1, 2002. On October 25, 2001, the CAC voted unanimously to return the amendments, including Section 208 to the Office of Administrative Law. None of the hundreds of public comments received earlier this month were discussed by the council prior to their vote. Status: The CAC needs to get the revised regulations back to the Office of Administrative Law in time to give them 30 working days for review. Should the OAL approve the regulations then the Secretary of State has 30 days to "chapter" them into law. This does not allow much time to react as far as litigation is concerned. FLAC's position and concerns: No one is better suited to set the wages of employees of a contracting company than the management of that company. Market forces and competition for quality employees set certain market wage and benefit standards, which are well above minimum wage and so- called living wage rates. Section 208 is a job/project killer. It affects ALL construction trades, not just electricians. It also sets a very dangerous precedent. Our economy cannot tolerate wage increases of 200%. Doubling of training wages will have the same effect upon journey level wages - FLAC is absolutely opposed. FLAC will be a major force behind the legal fight against applying prevailing wages to Merit Shop apprentices on private jobs. This legal battle will be expensive and we need your help.           © 2000 - 2003 Fair Licensing and Apprenticeship Coalition