FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contacts on behalf of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades
Ryan Kekeris, 410-564-5884, rkekeris@iupat.org
Kenneth E. Rigmaiden, General President of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), made the following statement today:
“For too long, US infrastructure has been forgotten. President Biden’s proposal, if passed, would be a monumental leap forward for our country’s roads, bridges, hospitals, and schools – most importantly – for workers.
Working people have been confronted with crisis after crisis. If we are to properly recover from the COVID-19 pandemic we need unprecedented federal investment in working people.
The American Jobs Plan would jump start our economy and create hundreds of thousands of union jobs. We see this as an opportunity to both modernize our infrastructure and to prove once and for all that jobs in clean energy can be family-sustaining union jobs.
A few of the pieces of the plan that are specific to our trades is that it calls to build, retrofit and renovate 2 million homes, fixing 10,000 bridges and 20,000 miles of highways, and to modernize our schools and hospitals with retrofitting. Many of these industries are in dire need of higher standards around safety and wages and we believe that the American Jobs Plan would push them in the right direction.
We also need to strengthen our inadequate labor laws so future generations of American workers can reap the tremendous benefits of collective bargaining. The inclusion of the PRO Act in this bill empowers workers to make that happen.
We commend President Biden for this announcement, and we look forward to working to help get this bill to his desk. We see this as the first step in restoring the balance of power in the American workplace as well as building back our communities and our climate for future generations.”
THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES (IUPAT)
Represents a growing community of over 140,000 active and retired craftspeople in the United States and Canada. The IUPAT membership extends far beyond the workplace. Recognized as one of the most active unions in the labor movement, IUPAT members help shape their communities in many ways: through an abiding commitment to service, by fighting passionately for workers’ rights that benefit all working families, and through effective worker education and mobilization. Visit www.iupat.org to learn more.
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