Pa. Districts Seek Relief From Building-Wage System

By Robert C. Johnston

Pennsylvania school officials could get long-awaited relief from a prevailing-wage system that they say inflates local school-construction costs by as much as $100 million a year.

The state department of labor and industry wants to replace the current system, which bases the wages that government agencies pay for construction on regional collective bargaining agreements negotiated by unions.

Instead, officials propose using the agency's survey of union and nonunion wages for common construction-job categories to set new county-by-county wage scales. The change could substantially lower school building costs,...