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Building & Construction Trades Department

Value On Display. Every Day.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Press Releases

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January Jobs Report: Union Construction Trades President Mark Ayers Statement -

For the second month in a row, the overall national unemployment rate has declined, yet in construction joblessness continues on an upward trend - moving from 16% in December, to over 17% in January.  While certain policies have thankfully stopped the hemorrhaging overall, job growth remains less than stellar, particularly in construction.

Union Construction Trades President Ayers Statement on Passage of Right to Work Law in Indiana -

Contrary to what right-to-work proponents would have the public believe, this WAS NOT about creating an inviting economic atmosphere that would attract businesses to Indiana.  Rather, this effort - just like recent efforts to limit collective bargaining rights in Wisconsin and Ohio - was first and foremost about political power.

Union Construction Trades Say President Obama Lays Out Common Sense Approach for U.S. Economic Growth in State of the Union Address -

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Statement of America's Building Trades Unions on House Tax and UI Extenders Bill - President Mark Ayers -

Unemployment among American construction professionals today remains 13 percent nationally and in many areas, well over 20%.  Without question, this constitutes a prolonged crisis of unemployment and underemployment.

November Jobs Report: Little Relief for Construction Workers -

While National Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.6 percent, Building and Construction Trades Workers Continue to Confront Rate Exceeding 13 Percent Nationwide

America's Building Trades Unions Encouraged by Highway Bill Movement -

America's Building Trades Unions today expressed their collective approval for action taken by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works to favorably report out of committee a highway bill known as the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, or MAP-21.

Issue 2 in Ohio is Defeated -

Ohio's voters have spoken and the great American Middle Class won big.

Cornell Study shows PLAs build the middle class -

The report represented a national study of PLAs by Cornell University, consisting of an analysis of more than 185 PLAs, along with a national survey of state and local building and construction trades councils in the United States.

U.S. Must Build on its Oil Ties with Energy-Rich Canada -

Perhaps no two countries have a stronger — and more special — partnership than do the United States and Canada. It is the world’s largest trading relationship, and Canada plays a tremendous role in our nation’s economic and energy security. Canada is already our largest supplier of imported oil. As Americans watch the unsettling events unfolding in Egypt and elsewhere in the Middle East, it should be comforting to note that most of the oil we import comes from our friendly and reliable next-door neighbor.

America's Building Trades Unions Stepping Up to Re-Build America and Create Jobs -

Building and Construction Trades Department President Mark H. Ayers today released an update on the progress being made to fulfill its commitment made earlier this year with the Clinton Global Initiative to leverage private pension fund capital in order to contribute to large-scale investments in the reconstruction of America's infrastructure, and by so doing create pathways for American citizens to gain access to job and career training opportunities - including a stated goal of  40,000 new skilled craft apprenticeship starts  by June of 2012, as well as skills upgrades and certifications for 100,000 existing craft professionals.

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