State Rep. Larry Marek, D-Riverside, told the crowd at a legislative forum in Iowa City that while he understands why prevailing wage is important for labor unions, his constituents wanted him to vote “no.”

According to John Deeth, who liveblogged the League of Women Voters forum Saturday for his Web site, several attendees brought up the legislation. Marek was one of five Democrats to vote against the measure that would have set minimum pay and benefit standards for workers on certain public projects.

Marek told the audience that labor needs to do a better job of educating his constituents before he can support prevailing wage.

“I admit I don’t understand labor as well as some of you do. There needs to be more communication with areas that are more conservative like mine.” Local contractors are using good, legal labor “and they just do not want to go that direction, and until they are educated it is very hard for me to go that direction. I have to listen to what they say and I was very hesitant to be the vote that made the difference.”

Marek also made several references to undocumented workers as a reason to oppose the legislation, according to Death, eventually saying the residents of his district “just don’t want to see [prevailing wage] happen.”

Bill Gerhard, the president of the Iowa State Building and Construction Trades Council, said improved worker safety and increased productivity would offset any cost increase associated with prevailing wage. Responding to Marek’s statement that his constituency wanted him to vote “no,” Gerhard said, “This is bigger than a half dozen small contractors in Washington County. The people in this room, Johnson County, carried you in the election, and we want to have you carry our water in the state house.”