Washington, DC
December 6, 2023
Bruce, thank you for that kind introduction. I want to say a special thanks to both you and TAUC’s CEO, Dan Hogan. You are great partners to work with.
And I’m so glad to be with you all to talk about the “state of union constructors.”
Part of the reason it’s so strong today is because of the man you just heard so much about: Terry O’Sullivan. Speaking right after a lifetime achievement award is a tough act to follow. But I do want to add my thanks for all the ways that President O’Sullivan expanded LIUNA’s organizing, apprenticeships, training, and much more.
Just last month, I was with a group of LIUNA apprentices at the Chicagoland Training Center. And they told me how their training has given them a strong foundation to build their careers. And I got to see their pride in the work they were doing and their hope for the future.
Terry, your lifetime of achievement has created that foundation for them – and for the next generation of LIUNA members – to reach higher and dream bigger. Thank you.
President Biden has made it his mission to invest in America. And that means investing in everyone here today. You are repairing roads, bridges, and highways. You’re modernizing airports. You are laying pipelines dozens of feet below ground… and creating structures hundreds of feet high.
So let me say on behalf of a grateful nation, thank you for building America.
President Biden’s infrastructure investments are a key part of how we’re growing our economy from the middle out and the bottom up – and where all of America’s workers can succeed.
Unlike the promise of an infrastructure week that never materialized, President Biden has kicked off an infrastructure decade.
The companies and the unions in this room are setting the standard for what this infrastructure decade will look like.
You’re building the high road – one that levels the playing field for the businesses that do right by their workers, one where America has a well-trained and ready workforce, one where businesses and workers succeed, together.
For far too long, we’ve heard the story that for businesses to compete, they had to shortchange workers and cut corners wherever possible.
But in the building trades especially, a race to the bottom only leads to more delays, cost-over-runs, and putting under-trained workers in danger.
That old narrative has also left far too many workers struggling, without the pay and the protections they need. And it left many people out entirely. For too long, good jobs in construction have been off limits for far too many women, Black workers, and many more.
Earlier this year, I met with a woman named Sherry Woolard from North Carolina. She’s in her fourth year as a UA apprentice. And Sherry is good at what she does in HVAC. She takes the time to get the job done right, every time.
But Sherry also said that she’s worked in the industry for a decade. And never, in all that time, has she worked with another woman in maintenance, let alone another Black woman like her.
There are thousands of Sherrys across our country who can be great at this work. And today, at a time when our economy is growing and when businesses need more skilled workers, we can’t leave their talent and skills untapped.
In President Biden’s America, we’re writing a new story – to build strong and diverse pipelines of skilled workers… and supporting you in building the high road.
You’ve seen that in the way we’ve prioritized Project Labor Agreements. And we’ve done that for a simple reason: PLAs are good for workers. And they’re good for business.
Since President Biden took office, the Federal Highway Administration alone has awarded funds to 319 projects under PLAs. Those projects have construction costs worth nearly $10 billion.
And last year, Dan Hogan was with President Biden when he signed a new executive order requiring PLAs for construction work with more than $35 million in federal contracts.
Construction in emerging industries like Clean Hydrogen Hubs and Battery Facilities are also using PLAs. Because if you want a project done on time – at or under budget, PLAs are the way to go.
Last year, Secretary Granholm and I announced a $2.5 billion loan for Ultium Cells to manufacture electric vehicle batteries in Ohio, Michigan, and Tennessee. At the Ohio facility, UAW members are already making those batteries in a $2.8 billion plant that was built under a Project Labor Agreement between Barton Malow and the Western Reserve Building and Construction Trades Council.
So we’re supporting PLAs. But that’s not all.
We updated Davis-Bacon regulations to set fair wages for the workers who are building roads, bridges, and more. Before these updates, the companies that short-changed their workers got to compete at an unfair advantage. Our new rule will help level the playing field.
Another way that the Biden-Harris administration is supporting the high road is in how we’re implementing historic legislation.
Take the Inflation Reduction Act. That’s our nation’s largest-ever investment in clean energy. And we’re requiring that those investments support high-quality jobs with prevailing wages and expand workforce training so that more people have pathways into those jobs.
And the Department of Labor has also designated 24 projects that were funded in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as “megaprojects.” And for these 24 megaprojects, we’re providing free, continuous, on-the-ground assistance to help owners, contractors, and unions recruit and hire women, workers of color, and other underrepresented workers into open jobs.
The thing I hear from business leaders more than anything else is that they need a skilled workforce to continue to grow and compete.
And that’s why the Department of Labor is so focused on creating strong, diverse pipelines of skilled workers – especially those who have been shut out in the past.
In September, we awarded nearly $94 billion to train workers, including those who are under-represented, in renewable energy, transportation, and broadband infrastructure.
And we’re investing big – over $440 million worth – to expand, diversify, and modernize Registered Apprenticeship programs. Registered Apprenticeships are one of the most powerful tools we have for workers to find and secure their place in the middle class. They’re also a key strategy to helping under-represented groups break into the building trades so they can take on these in-demand, high-quality, good-paying jobs.
And we just made $98 million in funding available for YouthBuild grants. YouthBuild is a pre-apprenticeship program where young people get to learn construction skills. So, students gain real-world experience by renovating homes, for example. And the community hours and skills they learn count toward high-school graduation… and sets them up to get a job, further their education, or take part in a Registered Apprenticeship.
So this administration is expanding opportunities for partners who take the high road.
But we can’t truly build the high road if we don’t also combat the low road – the bad actors who put workers’ health and safety at risk, who don’t pay workers near enough to get by, who don’t give workers a voice on the job.
So I’ve asked my team at the Department to find ways to unleash our power to enforce labor laws and health and safety standards. Not just to prevent hazards, but to make sure all of America’s workers can come home safe at the end of every workday and can have a voice in creating safe and healthy workplaces. And that’s going to help the companies that already do right by their workers better compete.
Again, what’s good for workers is good for business and good for our country. And your success is the proof.
So I want to leave you with a challenge and a promise.
This group is well-positioned to take advantage of the opportunities that the Biden Administration is creating. And you can go to GoodJobs.gov to find even more resources to plug into these opportunities.
I also challenge you to raise your voices when others defend their lower standards or try to rationalize treating workers as expendable instead of essential. And when others try to say that business versus labor is a zero-sum game, I need you to speak up. Show them there’s a better way forward.
And here’s what I can promise you: the Biden-Harris administration has your back. And we will keep pushing to make sure that this industry rises to your level.
Together, we can build more pathways to the middle class.
We can build the high road that continues to set the standard in the years to come.
We can build an economy the grows from the middle out and the bottom up, where workers, businesses, and America wins.
So, let’s build – together.