The United Brotherhood of Carpenters (UBC) has levied a serious charge against the U.S. construction industry — that it is shorting the American taxpayer to the tune of up to $2.6 billion each year by making under-the-table payments to more than a million workers. In Texas alone, the losses reportedly top $1 billion.
Prevailing wage proponents and research group Smart Cities Prevail provided the estimates to the UBC.
The UBC adds to that figure about 300,000 independent contractors that the organization maintains are really misclassified employees, forced to work as independents so that employers don’t have to pay them benefits, cover them with workers’ compensation insurance or make federal and state tax payments on their behalf.
