Dem leader pledges to back contractor wage requirements

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Monday that Democrats would continue to protect union wage provisions included in the latest transportation reauthorization bill, arguing the provisions help protect workers from "unscrupulous contractors."

In a speech at the Building and Construction Trades Legislative Conference in Washington, Reid vowed to maintain Davis-Bacon Act provisions, which require federal contractors to pay a prevailing union wage.

Business and conservative groups have unsuccessfully sought to eliminate the provisions in the past, arguing they create a union-controlled monopoly on those contracts.

"For more than half a century, Davis-Bacon has protected members of the building trades from unscrupulous contractors, and we should do all we can to keep its protections in place," Reid said.