Destructiveness of unions must be stopped.

Not a day goes by where we don't read about the latest disaster to befall some segment of our city and state that is due, in large or small part, to unions.

The reasons for this can be directly linked to the greed, myopia, and the utter economic illiteracy of union bosses. The most recent case in point is the story that just broke where two companies hired by the city of San Diego to clear away homes destroyed by October's wildfires charged three times initial estimates for the job and considerably more than contractors hired by homeowners to do similar work.

So what did these two companies have in common that the others did not?

They were union, they were from out of the area, and they charged, incredibly, union wages (so called "prevailing wages") for their work.

It also appears they charged for hauling away more debris than they really did.

A.J. Diani Construction Co. of Santa Maria and Watsonville-based Granite Construction Co. cleaned debris from 112 of the 365 home sites destroyed in the October fires.

The companies billed by the ton and charged an average of $83,000 per home whereas initial estimates had been $28,000 per home!

What is worse is that in some instances the two companies charged nine times what privately retained contractors charged to clear nearly identical lots.

Eric Christen is executive director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction in Poway.

'Prevailing Wage'

The total bill to taxpayers and homeowners: $9.4 million.

Environmental Services Department Director Chris Gonaver, who oversaw the city's efforts, said its contractors are required to meet a list of restrictions and conditions that don't apply to privately hired contractors.

One such requirement is having to pay the aforementioned "prevailing wage."

California is one of only two states where this "prevailing wage" is based on a modal rate, or, to put it simply, a union rate.

As common sense, studies from UC Berkeley and California State University campus in Sacramento, and this local example prove, prevailing wage increases costs 30 to 55 percent.

All of this was predictable, and in fact, did predict it while it was happening.

At the time the city and the state came out with requirements that only their preferred contractors would be allowed to get this work.

Outraged because I knew of local contractors who could do this work, I looked into how the city and the state could be allowed to do this.

I was told the mayor's office had their hands tied as this was being handled by the California Integrated Waste Management Board.

After checking into this never-before-heard-of-entity I learned that only companies who met their "requirements" could do this work.

And there it is, another government bureaucracy laying out reams of regulations regarding who can and cannot do what just happens to benefit in the end the biggest perpetuators of more government there is: labor unions.

As usual the ones left holding the bag, regardless of how dire the emergency or how wasteful and profligate the ends, are the average citizens of our city and state.

Eric Christen is executive director of the Coalition for Fair Employment in Construction in Poway.