Senate Considering Legislation Ending Federal Highway Prevailing Wage Requirement

Continuing the nationwide Republican frontal assault on organized labor, Arizona Senator Jeff Flake has introduced a bill intended to suspend Davis-Bacon prevailing wage requirements on highway construction projects funded in whole or in part by federal money. Flake’s bill would remove the power of the U. S. Department of Labor to make wage determinations on all federally funded highway projects starting construction any time after the bill is signed into law.

In putting the measure in the hopper, Flake contended that Labor Department wage surveys are defective, and lead to overspending on highway construction labor. According to Building Trades Unions President Sean McGarvey, highway workers in Arizona earn on average between $31,000.00 and $35,000.00 per year. Laborers International President Terry O’Sullivan opposes the legialstion and its purported purpose of saving tax dollars, saying, “Repealing the Daviis-Bacon Act would lower the quality of projects, leading to costly delays, repairs and even re-dos down the line, leaving taxpayers holding the bag.”