Arizona cities are considering prevailing wage ordinances to ensure fair compensation for construction workers, a crucial step in sustaining the state’s economic and workforce growth.

Here’s why Arizona cities should support prevailing wage:

• Economic Justice: Prevailing wage ordinances ensure that workers are fairly compensated for their labor, promoting economic justice and helping to bridge income inequality gaps.
• Support Working Families: These ordinances promote fair competition in the construction industry while ensuring adequate pay and benefits to support the financial stability of working families and local economies.
• Invest in Apprenticeships: Passing these ordinances strengthens apprentice programs, providing opportunities for young people from diverse backgrounds to learn valuable skills and secure well-paying jobs in the construction sector.
• Prevent Undercutting: By setting a prevailing wage for public construction projects, the ordinances prevent unethical contractors from paying lower wages, which enables responsible contractors to maintain a fair market environment.
• Local Economic Boost: Fair wages for construction workers result in increased disposable income, driving local spending and stimulating economic growth within communities.
• Legal Validity: Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes ruled in favor of prevailing wage ordinances in May 2023, confirming their legal validity and enabling cities to implement these ordinances without legal concerns.

“A city may regulate the minimum wages paid within its geographic boundaries under Arizona Revised Statutes § 23-364(I), so long as those wages are not less than the statewide minimum wage. This authority includes the ability to require that employees of contractors on local public works projects be paid not less than the prevailing wage.”

-Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes – No. I23.004