As President Biden nears the end of his time in office, labor leaders are saying he will be missed, while at the same time expressing uncertainty regarding their fortunes with the new Trump administration.
“We in the building trades will be forever grateful for what the president did,” Sean McCarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Union, said last week in remarks delivered before a meeting of the Association of Union Constructors in Washington.
McCarvey particularly pointed to Biden’s leadership in the passage of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act; which has provided hundreds thousands of jobs for union workers.
Biden has also been an avid supporter of Project Labor Agreements, which are collective bargaining agreements between building trade unions and contractors as applied to public construction projects.
When the White House announced late last year its final rule implementing an earlier Project Labor Agreements executive order, it was noted that the move targeted federal construction projects costing $35 million or more.
Trump, on the other hand, has repeatedly expressed his opposition to Project Labor Agreements, contending that they tend to increase the cost of a given construction project.
It is a given, said McCarvey in his remarks, that “on day one,” Trump will rescind the Biden Project Labor Agreements executive order.
On the other hand, Trump has announced his decision to pick Oregon Republican Congresswoman Lori Chavez-DeRemer as the next Secretary of Labor, a choice that has won praise from labor leaders.
That choice, in fact, notes the publication The Hill, “has organized labor cheering and business groups sounding worried due to her past support of various labor issues,” including the proposed Protect the Right to Organize Act, which strengthens the rights of employees to join a labor union.
Upon the Chavez-DeRemer announcement, Sean O’Brien, president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, hailed Trump in an announcement, declaring: “North America’s strongest union is ready to work with you every step of the way.”
December 19, 2024
By Garry Boulard
