Washington, DC
April 23, 2024
Thank you all so much! There is nothing like a Building Trades entrance. So thank you, thank you.
I always feel like, when you come in like that, it's better just to stop there and not say anything, but I very much appreciate you all having me and for that warm welcome.
Thank you so much, President McGarvey, truly, not just for your introduction, but for your lifetime of work on behalf of men and women in this country, for your leadership to everybody on this stage.
I feel the power, not just when I'm here, but when I'm traveling around the country, and I can't imagine having better partners than all of you.
I also want to give a shout-out to our brother Mike Monroe, who does tremendous work here with us in Washington D.C.
[Applause]
It's great to see you all in our nation's capital, since usually, I'm traveling across the country visiting all of you.
Like when I went to UA Local 290 in Springfield, Oregon…
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That's right, where I met with leaders like Jeff, if you're here, thank you so much for that Jeff, and I met an apprentice named Mariah Daugherty.
Mariah is a single mom who was at her local social services agency to apply for food stamps and Medicaid when she saw a flyer for an apprenticeship program in the pipe trades. Mariah told me that at the time she couldn't tell you what a pipe wrench looked like. But she went ahead and applied. And that decision changed her life.
And Mariah is now a proud UA Local 290 member who has quadrupled her income in the last four years.
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And today, like so many of you in the building trades, she puts in a hard day's work and get rewarded for it. And she gets to see the pride in her children's eyes.
And it's not just Mariah. Across the country your union halls are bursting with new apprentices.
I felt that same energy when I visited the LIUNA Chicagoland training center. Keith, if you're here, thank you so much for welcoming me there!
[Applause]
I felt it in the Southern Nevada Building Trades in Las Vegas with Vince. From the Milwaukee Electrical JATC, to the Ironworkers local 848 in Charlotte.
There's a really good reason for all this energy. It's not just because of our sisters and brothers in the IBW, although it's you too. Unlike the promise of an infrastructure week that never happened, President Biden is investing in an infrastructure decade. That's right.
[Applause]
And that means that tradesmen and tradeswomen have gone to work repairing roads and bridges, modernizing airports, making sure that every family who turns on the faucet gets clean drinking water, and every family that powers up a computer at home has access to high-speed reliable affordable internet.
President Biden is investing in America. And the Building Trades are building America.
[Applause]
Now, none of this happens by accident. It is happening because of all of you your advocacy, your solidarity, your leadership, President McGarvey, and the infrastructure that you have built.
I don't just mean the physical infrastructure, not just the impressive products of your skill and your hands. I mean, the infrastructure you've put in place to make sure every worker has their shot at the American Dream.
What am I talking about?
I'm talking about prevailing wages, something that exists because you, the Building Trades, advocated and put them into them law.
I'm talking about Project Labor Agreements, born out of the unions that I see here today.
I'm talking about Registered Apprenticeships.
You made all of these things possible.
You are not only fueling our economy with the most highly skilled and talented workers in the world; you've built an infrastructure that protects good pay, good jobs, and good pathways into those jobs.
But I know that you know that before President Biden came into office, that infrastructure—like our physical roads and bridges—needed some serious attention too.
The Reagan Administration, some 40 years ago, upended prevailing wage laws. And this last administration, before the one currently in office, was determined to weaken them even more.
When President Biden got into office, we said, "Not this time, not on our watch." We strengthened federal prevailing wage regulations, and we fortified the law—reinforcing your vision and making it stronger than ever before.
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And today, the Department of Labor's Davis Bacon rule protects and provides a wage floor for more than a million construction workers.
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And that number is only going to go up as we break ground on new projects.
And for every piece of historic legislation that President Biden has signed—the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Inflation Reduction Act—we've built prevailing wage requirements into those laws too.
And it's not just prevailing wages. Let's talk about PLAs. No president in history has ever required Project Labor Agreements on federal construction projects.
Under President Biden, we said, "Just see what we can do on our watch."
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A couple months ago, I went to Cleveland with Mayor Bibb, with David, with the local Building Trades, and I announced a final rule that requires PLAs on virtually all federal contracts valued at or above $35 million.
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In just the first three months of the new rule, the Biden-Harris Administration has included more solicitations with PLA requirements than in the last 10 years!
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And you're feeling them, right? You're seeing that. That means more workers with collectively bargained wages, benefits, and safety protections.
Again, we are reinforcing the infrastructure that you built. I know all of you in the Building Trades, and generations before you, have been fighting for PLAs for over a century. And we've got to protect them. And we've got to expand them.
Sometimes people ask me what's the big deal about PLAs. And I always say, it's simple: union workers make sure the job is done on time, on task, on budget—sometimes under budget—and that is a good thing for taxpayers, too.
[Applause]
Let's talk about Registered Apprenticeships. The last Administration tried to weaken those, too. They tried to say, we'll just set up a training program without skills standards, without wage progression, where your only option as a worker is to stay with that employer, and we'll call that an apprenticeship.
Once again, we said: "Not on our watch."
Registered Apprenticeships are the gold standard. They're one of the most powerful ways that workers can find their place in the middle class. And we not only fought back on these fake apprenticeships. We're investing big in Registered Apprenticeships.
And the Department of Labor has also invested in a partnership between NABTU's TradesFutures and the National Urban League. That's a historic partnership to connect more communities to Registered Apprenticeships.
In less than a year, we've enrolled over 3,700 people, including over 700 women and over 2,500 people of color in Apprenticeship Readiness Programs.
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This is what it looks like. In Ohio, we're helping veterans get good paying construction jobs. In Milwaukee and New York, TradesFutures offers child care so that working parents can join the building trades. In North Dakota, we started the first-ever pre-apprenticeship program with a tribal college.
And it's absolutely essential that we continue to create these pathways for all of America's workers. I know this is something you all care about—opportunities for good jobs for all communities.
Last year, I met Sherry Woolard from North Carolina. She's been doing HVAC work for a decade. And Sherry takes pride in what she does. But she told me that never, in all her time, has she worked with another woman in maintenance, much less another Black woman.
So together, we are saying, "Not this time. Not on our watch."
Today, President Biden's historic federal investments are creating opportunities that will draw from the talent of all of America's workers. And I see you leading the way. President McGarvey, it's been so exciting to see Tradeswomen Build Nations grow bigger each year. I think it was like 4,000 last year, right?
[Applause]
I also want to commend NABTU and each union on this stage for your new RESPECT certification program to create better working environments for men and women in every craft. I'm eager to hear more as you implement that program.
I'm also thinking of President Jimmy Williams of IUPAT who has brought more women and people of color into the Painters Union.
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And the Sheet Metal Air Rail and Transportation Workers who set a goal to double the number of women in SMART during their 2019 convention.
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And in places like Atlanta—if you're here, I'll see you in a couple of days too—where state and local labor leaders are working together to make sure that good union jobs are available to every single community.
The ability to join a union, the availability of a Registered Apprenticeship program, the access to a life-changing good job. These things should not depend on the ZIP Code in which you were born in or the circumstances in which you grew up.
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That's right.
And whether any job is a good union job shouldn't depend on the industry you work in either. As industries grow and change, we know that we have to be vigilant about the kind of jobs that were created. You know and I know what happens if we allow an industry to cut costs off the backs of working people.
Since President Biden took office, electric vehicle sales have been on the rise. As the President says, we are going to make things in America again. And with the help of President Biden's Investing in America agenda, nearly 300 electric vehicle battery manufacturing facilities have been announced.
And the Department of Labor, together with our sister agencies—the Departments of Energy and Education—we created a national standard for Registered Apprenticeships in the battery manufacturing industry. And I say that because this means that new booming industries are also built on the foundation that you all have built.
Again, none of this work—from prevailing wages to project labor agreements, to registered apprenticeships, to making sure that you and your members are the ones who are building America—none of that happens by accident.
I've talked about what you've done. I want to say, also, that it happens because President Biden promised to be the most pro-union, pro-worker president in history.
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And we are delivering on that promise. It's not just a talking point. It's what drives our work. And this combination of having "Union Joe" in the White House—and the Building Trades showing how to do it right—well that's a powerful one.
So I love hearing your stories everywhere I go, and I'm just going to share one last one.
Rose Evans was struggling to provide for her kids when she started an apprenticeship program and became a journey worker with the Sheet Metal Worker's Union.
Rose's daughter saw how much a good union job meant. So she enrolled in a pre-apprenticeship program, that was funded by the Department of Labor and carried out in partnership with the Building Trades. And today Mom Rose is working on her second project funded under President Biden's Investing in America agenda—and this one is in Kokomo where she works alongside her daughter.
[Applause]
So I'm going to close with something you all know very well. We're not just about jobs; we're talking about careers. We're talking about building inter-generational wealth. We're talking about families going from just getting by to getting a real shot at home ownership, at pride, security, at time off, and some breathing room.
And that is what's possible when we invest in workers. And we are not done yet.
This pro-union, pro-worker President is going to keep investing in all of America's workers, in every corner of America, and we cannot do this work alone.
Alongside all of you, we're going to keep at it, and keep saying, "This is our time." And, on our watch, let's keep making history. Let's keep building.
Thank you so, so much for everything you do.
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