Building & Construction Trades Department

Secretary/Treasurer of America's Building Trades Unions provides examples of why Project Labor Agreements in the construction industry continue to gain traction across the country and provide further evidence that the utilization of the skilled trades are an advantage for customers and a pathway to careers in construction.

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Tennessee Valley Authority chooses union construction and is not surprisingly efficient and cost effective.

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We are now almost four years into the greatest economic disaster since the Great Depression. For American workers, the financial weather report calls for more of the same: a continuing and destructive economic tornado followed by heavy showers of despair.  During similar periods of dreadful economic times in our past, Americans could always take comfort in the fact that we had leaders - both public and private - who were "on the job." Such leaders would earnestly put aside partisan differences in order to fashion together concrete solutions to our nation's most pressing problems in a manner that put the interests of the many ahead of the interests of a special few.

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The news that federal and state agencies had twice raided the $600 million Veterans Administration hospital construction site in Lake Nona, Florida in mid-February for undocumented and illegal workers is something that may have come as a disturbing shock to some peopls, but to America’s Building Trades Unions it was not shocking at all.

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While many Americans – and certainly those of us whose livelihoods are tied to the battered construction industry – are dealing with the prospects of drastically lowering our expectations for a joyous holiday season, it is shaping up to be a very, very Merry Christmas for the those who work on Wall Street.

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Almost two years ago, conservative members of Congress, and their sycophants in the media (or, should I say the conservative media and their sycophants in Congress) set about on a tirade over President Obama’s proposal to provide federal monetary assistance to rescue General Motors and Chrysler.  In truth, the assistance provided by the federal government actually began with the Bush Administration – but conservatives are never ones to ever let facts get in the way of their seemingly endless quest to demonize President Obama.

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Employee Misclassification has become one of the fundamental pillars of the “race to the bottom” business model that is so prevalent in the American construction industry today.

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With the exception of health care reform, the biggest lobbying battle taking place in Washington, DC today is over the issue of financial regulatory reform.  For Building Trades Unions, this issue has far-reaching consequences, because the U.S. construction industry is so critically dependent on the health and stability of the U.S. banking industry.

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If I asked you to name the longest running war in our nation’s history, what would you say?  The Viet Nam War?  The dual conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan? Well, from my perspective I would say that the United States’ longest running war has been one waged against American workers. 

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Secretary Treasurer McGarvey reflects back on the enduring legacy of Senator Kennedy

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In a recent edition of Newsweek, a small business owner named Kevin Kelly opined that our nation would, indeed, be better off if we were devoid of any and all labor unions.  Mr. Kelly made this point in reference to his contention that the proposed “Employee Free Choice Act” would cripple American small businesses – in his words, “the backbone of the American economy.”  In both instances, Mr. Kelly is flat wrong.

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This week, the San Diego Unified School District voted in favor of a Project Stabilization Agreement (PSA) for its $2.1 billion plan for school construction, modernization and retrofit projects.  And in usual fashion, the local San Diego chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) went apoplectic over the decision, with their usual whining about how PSAs are discriminatory and an affront to American values and meritocracy.

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