On the Issues

Every White House promises to invest in and rebuild America’s infrastructure.  

Every.  Single.  One.  But the Biden/Harris Administration delivered.

They worked with Republicans and delivered a massive $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that is investing and rebuilding roads, bridges, airports, ports, waterways, drinking water systems, broadband, transit, and energy infrastructure.  They delivered a CHIPS and Science bill that invests over $200 billion to onshore semiconductor manufacturing and rebuild domestic supply chains.  They delivered $300 billion in tax credits for clean energy projects that for the first time have strong labor standards that will pay prevailing wages and incentivize the use of registered apprentices on clean energy projects.

The scale of these investments is generational, and all will benefit our members and their families.

Since the Biden/Harris Administration started passing laws that finally made investments in America’s infrastructure, our economy has created 15,000,000 new jobs, including 670,000 new construction jobs. Every month, an average of 20,000 new construction jobs are being created nationwide and are putting IUPAT members to work.

Previous presidents promised to save the pension system, but only President Biden & Vice President Harris delivered.  The American Rescue Plan included $86 billion for the multiemployer pension system, effectively saving the entire system and ensuring millions of workers – and countless building trades members – will be able to retire with dignity and the pensions they earned through their years of hard work and dedication to their craft.

In their first week in office, Joe Biden & Kamala Harris took action to protect the Registered Apprenticeship System – the gold-standard of workforce training for millions of building trades members for generations – by repealing the IRAP rule proposed by the Trump Administration. 

The IRAPs rule would have severely weakened industry standards for Registered Apprenticeships, which would have threatened the very foundation of the building and construction trades. Instead, President Biden and Vice President Harris stood with building trades members and their families to protect our Registered Apprenticeship programs and way of life.

The Biden/Harris Labor Department issued new regulations strengthening the implementation and enforcement of the Davis-Bacon Act and Related Acts for the benefit of building trades members.  The new regulations restore the bedrock prevailing wage law to its original intent after being watered down for the last 40-plus years.  The new regulations are a win for all construction workers, both union and non-union, for good and fair contractors, and for the American economy. 

In the first few months of their administration, President Biden & Vice President Harris set policies to require the use of Project Labor Agreement (PLA) on federally owned projects over $35 million.  This means an additional 60-110 projects across the nation built using a PLA, which is good for the American taxpayer and it helps ensure projects are delivered efficiently, safely, and on-time and on-budget, with the highest level of skill in the construction industry.  This decision will deliver job opportunities for building trades members and their families without spending an additional dollar of taxpayers’ money.

In building their Administration, President Biden & Vice President Harris named former Building Trades Council president, and Mayor of Boston, Marty Walsh, as Labor Secretary. And Vice President Harris cast the tie breaking vote to overhaul the National Labor Relations Board with a pro-union leader so that it finally has the back of working people across America.