MBI Statement on SB 908 Passing Labor & Industry Committee 

Earlier this week, Senate Bill 908, which would expand prevailing wage into modular factories, passed 11-0 out of the Labor & Industry Committee. MBI is disappointed to see unanimous support for a policy that will almost certainly destroy the modular industry’s ability to participate in the Commonwealth’s public works market, and harm the vast network of stable, well-paying jobs the industry supports.

With 23 MBI members spread throughout every corner of Commonwealth, including seven manufacturers, Pennsylvania is America’s modular powerhouse. These members manufacture, design, engineer, and supply buildings and materials for countless critical projects, including affordable housing, hospitals, educational, and recreational facilities.

By imposing prevailing wage requirements on the manufacturers who build for Pennsylvania, their almost certain exit from public projects will needlessly inflate costs for desperately needed infrastructure. From significantly reduced construction schedules to less material waste, the modular industry brings significant, cost-saving benefits that Pennsylvania simply cannot afford to fritter away.

Prevailing wage was built for onsite construction, where workers only perform tasks that align with their discrete trade classification. Carpenters only perform carpentry, plumbers only work on plumbing tasks, and so on. The fabrication of modular buildings is not traditional construction. It is modern manufacturing.

In a modular factory, employees are cross trained to perform various tasks throughout the manufacturing process, and they regularly move between tasks, and indeed between public and private projects. This well-established industry standard is unsuitable for a prevailing wage regime.

Together, the risk and cost that will be imposed by SB 908 are unacceptable to the modular industry.

If the legislature is serious about working to fill the substantial housing shortfall outlined in Governor Shapiro’s Housing Action Plan or help pull its aging school facilities out of their current “crisis,” it should reject SB 908.