Per diem may be a thing of the past for workers.

Being in the construction business for 10 years, me and the rest of the craftsmen have always been paid per diem when working 60+ miles from the house ranging from $35 to $100 a day depending on location and company we work for. Since the recession hit, companies have slowly but surely been omitting this from our paycheck. The companies I work for are based in Houston, Tx but we are sent all over the country, coast to coast on jobs. Per diem was paid to us to help out with motel rooms and eating expenses while working out of town. Since jobs are hard to come by these days and big corporations like Chevron, Exxon, and other major oil companies know this, per diem is almost non-existant now. They know that people are going through hard times and will work for a lot less than they used to. I have 10 years experience in my crafts which are boilermaking and rigging, and have seen my hourly wage slashed by $10/hr in the past 1 1/2 years, and I see no sign of wages hitting bottom. Now with per diem and travel pay being cut, I guess I could say my pay has fallen $15/hr. I have to take these jobs to support my family, even though the pay is falling, there is no where else for me and others in our crafts to work. If I raise hell, they just tell me to go away and they will find someone else to fill my spot because they know there are 100s, if not 1000s that will work for less. Eventually, things will get better and jobs will be more plentiful, but it will be a long time before our per diem is reinstated. They have seen what they can get away with paying us now and they don't mind kicking us when we are down.