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Writer's pictureLas Vegas Tribune News

INVESTING IN AMERICA: Secretary Buttigieg Speaks to Thousands of Union Workers about the Pipeline of Projects Being Created by President Biden’s Infrastructure Law

Secretary Buttigieg: “The Biden-Harris infrastructure package is at the core of America's future, and your members are at the core of this good work


Las Vegas, NV – This week in Nevada, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg addressed union leaders and workers who are helping build out some of the 60,000 infrastructure projects as part of our Infrastructure Decade. Secretary Buttigieg thanked them for their work on projects of all sizes. President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is an historic investment in our communities that is creating good-paying jobs and supporting domestic manufacturing as we rebuild roads and bridges, modernize airports and ports, build out passenger rail and public transportation, and so much more.  

Below are excerpts of his remarks at the 3rd General Convention for the International Association of Sheet Metal, Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (SMART). You can watch the full speech here: 

“My name is Pete Buttigieg, and I have the best job in the federal government. [...] I have the enormous privilege of working to help shape the transportation systems that we are going to count on for the rest of our lives and the rest of our kids' lives. 

"I feel being here in Las Vegas right now like I'm going down memory lane because this weekend we celebrated our twins’ third birthday. It was three years ago exactly I was sitting on a plane getting ready to taxi to go to Los Vegas that I got a phone call that changed our lives. The next day we were holding them in our arms.  

"It's hard to believe now they're already big enough to start asking questions about my work, which they really do. My daughter, every time when we put her to bed after – if you have toddlers you know how this goes – you do the story the bath time and then the pajamas, then you do the story, then you do the other story, and then you do the stuffies, then you put the blanket on then you check for monsters then you turn the lights off, then you check for monsters again, and then just before she goes to sleep she says, 'Tell me about your work.' I asked her one time, Me talking about work helps you go to sleep?' She goes, 'Yeah.' So I do.  

"Sometimes my work doesn't exactly translate into terms a three-year-old is going to care much about [...] but then sometimes what we do is so abundantly important that it makes sense even to a toddler. 

"So, the last time I was packing my bags for Nevada back in April this year, so I could come here and break ground on the Bright Line West, I got to tell her I'm going out to be with some people who are going to make a fast train in the American West. And Joe Sellers was there, and Jeremy Ferguson was there, Peter Kennedy was there, a whole bunch of you were there as we celebrated not just what that's going to mean for American transportation, but the good paying union jobs that that was going to create. 

"Building a train like that gave me a good answer for my kids about what I do all day. It also gives America a good answer for our traveling public who keep asking why we can't have high-speed rail in this country. Why we can't have more trains more quickly.” 

— 

On the passage of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: 

“Up until [the Biden-Harris] Administration arrived the questions kept swirling about why we can't have nice things. Why we can't have high-speed rail. Why almost none of the world's best airports are in the United States. Why our roads and bridges were falling into disrepair. Why our ports were struggling to keep up. Why public transit wasn't serving everybody's needs. And the simple answer is that was a choice.   

“Every time America missed a chance to do big things in infrastructure the backlog got bigger. The hole got deeper. And every time somebody made a big promise on infrastructure and then failed to actually do it – like we saw just a few years ago – the impatience began to turn into cynicism about the ability of Washington to get anything done. But from the first days of this Administration we set out to change that. 

“Now here in year four, the money is moving, the dirt is flying, and America's future is changing before our eyes. And you are making that happen.”  

—  

“There doesn't have to be a blue versus red death match when it comes to American infrastructure in transportation. There should be no such thing as a Democratic highway or a Republican bridge.  

“These are just the foundations of everyday life that Americans depend on to get to work to take their kids to school, to visit their parents and grandparents, just to go get something to eat. And fortunately, a number of Republicans in Congress recognized that not everything needed to be a political battle and were willing to cross the aisle sit down with Democrats in Congress, with cabinet members like me, with President Biden and Vice President Harris. And we got that infrastructure law done.   

“But it would not have made its way to the President's desk without the support of the people in this room. You stood up. You made clear that the legislation was something this country needed for everyday life and for our long-term economic growth.   

“You did so knowing that if we got this bill through, we wouldn't just be building railroads and bridges, we'd be building livelihoods. Good paying jobs that mean presents under the tree, a new car or truck in the driveway, and everything else the family needs.  

“SMART members and locals stood up for this bill, and I was proud to stand with some of you that day on the South Lawn of the White House as President Biden signed the bill into law.”  

—  

On the Biden-Harris Administration’s actions to promote safety:  

“I definitely want to lift up our work together, and your leadership on safety. In April our Federal Transit Administration issued a final rule to make public transit safer and better protect public transit workers including giving these essential workers a voice in safety decisions.   

“And then after a lot of anticipation and a lot of work a rule that was developed two administrations ago – frozen by the last administration – that we knew in this one we had to get done. This spring our Federal [Railroad] Administration issued that long fought for rule for safe train crew sizes establishing what most Americans already thought was the case. What most Americans, all Americans, ought to know is common sense. Which is a one-mile or two-mile or three-mile-long train ought to have minimum crew size requirements to make sure everybody on that train is safe and everybody who lives anywhere near where that train is going.  

“You helped make that happen. You drove that for years and I was proud to be with President Ferguson when we announced that rule. That is what the power of organizing and good policy working together can do. And it is good policy.”  

“We know there's more to do. But these are the kinds of gains that we can score when we work together. We have final rules to require emergency escape breathing apparatus for trains carrying hazmat.   

“We conducted 7,500 focused inspections. Issued safety advisories. Developed a new rule to require those railroads to provide real-time information for local, first responders when something happens.  

“And I promise you we are not walking away from the fight for sick leave until 100 percent of railroad workers have that sick leave. When we got here less than one out of ten class one union freight railroad workers had access to paid sick leave. We have pushed hard on that, and today the number stands around 90 percent. From just 5 percent to 90 percent in less than two years. And again, we will not stop until it's 100 percent, working together.  

“We will continue to do everything in our authority to set higher standards to protect workers in the public. To upgrade and modernize our rail infrastructure to make operations safer.   

“I know there's still more to do. A lot of it requires new authorities from Congress, which is why I have been demanding that Congress finally pass the Bipartisan Railway Safety Act to make tracks cars and working conditions safer for those who work on freight rail and everybody who lives near a railroad line in America. And I know you've been fighting for that too. So thank you for standing up for that important legislation.” 

—   

On the work ahead: 

“But we won't give up. And we won’t back off. Just like we won't back off from insisting on a fairer tax code. Not tax cuts for the wealthy.   

“We won't back off on standing proudly with our unions and maintaining our infrastructure momentum. We won't back off in the face of those who want to use the latest culture war to distract or divide workers while they put shareholders first.   

“And we won't back off on defending and extending the historic infrastructure and transportation work that we're doing coast-to-coast that so many of you are part of we're part of together.”   

—    

“You are shaping a future that your kids will be proud of. And we are building it together. And yes, with unions like SMART leading the way, there is no going back. You are closing the gap between what America is now and what America can be. That will be your legacy. And that will be the legacy of America's infrastructure decade. And the best is yet to come.” 

 Below are excerpts of his remarks at the 53rd Convention of the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association (OPCMIA). You can watch the full speech here: 

“I want you to know, just as you have been working hard to deliver these projects across the country, we have been working hard at the U.S. Department of Transportation and across the Biden-Harris Administration to create jobs and improve infrastructure in every part of the country.  

“Just since getting this job three and a half years ago I've now been to every state in the nation, and part of what brings me to Nevada this week is looking at some of those projects made possible by the Biden-Harris Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and all of the other legislation we pursued.” 

—    

On building a stronger, more resilient future with concrete: 

“I think of policy and politics as being all about the relationship between the general and the particular— between the concepts and the realities, between the policy ideas in our everyday lives. And that's something that you work every day, making sure that our buildings and our homes and our roads and our bridges are well formed so that our lives go better. 

“It's remarkable how something as seemingly simple as a mix of aggregate, cement, and water is the literal foundation for our society and has been going back to antiquity. 

“You might tell me that being at Caesar's is going to my head, but I really am thinking about civilizational achievements that go back to the days of the Romans. Tourists flocked to Rome to see the Pantheon. They also flocked to Pennsylvania to see the Frank Lloyd Wright’s house there, they go 40 miles from where we are now to see the Hoover Dam. 

“And I'm told that the concrete that makes up the Hoover Dam is still curing, which means even now it gets a little bit stronger, a little bit more resilient. And I think that's not a bad metaphor for where we are right now at this stage in the life of the infrastructure of our country. The work that you are doing in this moment through the Biden-Harris infrastructure package won't be done overnight, but it will reinforce a stronger, more resilient future for our country. 

“The Biden-Harris infrastructure package is at the core of America's future, and your members are at the core of this good work.” 

—    

Impact of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law: 

“Now for the really hard part, but also the best part. It's the thing that I wake up every morning thinking about. And I know you do too. And that's delivery. That's actually getting all of this done. Recruiting and training and retaining and deploying the workers who are making these projects happen, who are actually building the bridges and the roads and the factories that are carrying us into the future. 

“So, I'll give you just a brief update on where we stand in that process. But I'll start with the bottom line. The bottom line up front: America is building like we haven't been in more than half a century. And you all are in the middle of that. Now, as you know, the public sector government is the largest purchaser of concrete in the United States. That was true even before the infrastructure law.  

“But now we've got 60,000 projects—and counting—moving in every state in the Union. We're calling it the “Summer of Construction,” and I've been seeing projects happen all over the country. 

“[...] The common thread through all of these projects that you were lending your experience and your expertise and your skills to—is the lasting and positive impact that they're going to have on lives and livelihoods. 

“That's what we're doing through this infrastructure package. It was not just about what we built. It's about how we build and who gets to build. Our motto is to build good things well, and a big part of that is paying attention to the process and the rights and the opportunities and the training and the skills of the workers who are going to do it. And that is why the Biden-Harris Administration is proud to be the most pro-union administration that we have seen in my lifetime and then some.” 

“Look, by now you have seen the difference between talk. And the longer you've been in the building trades, the more you seen people come along and talk a good game and the people walking the walk. In this case, literally, as the President was the first ever to walk a picket line showing his solidarity with the UAW workers. 

—    

The Biden-Harris Administration: The most pro-union Administration of our lifetime: 

“One of the best parts of my job is spending time with apprentices and workers early in their career who explain how union jobs changed their lives. 

“I met a trade's apprentice in Washington state, where we're doing the I-5 Interstate Bridge Replacement, talked about how he's sure that if he hadn't found the union after he separated from the Marines, that he would have wound up as a statistic. I met a working mom who said, the difference that this work was making is the difference between whether she's going to have enough time with her kids to get to know them as they're growing up. And I think a lot about a trip we took to Wisconsin, where they brought in high school students from around the state to see for themselves what a future working in construction could mean to them, to see the difference between what they might have pictured a construction site to be like and what it would actually be like, and the wages that they would be earning in a good union career. 

“A single good union job can change the trajectory of somebody's entire life. And a single project, as you well know, can generate hundreds or even thousands of those jobs. So multiply that by the thousands of projects moving forward nationwide, and we are changing the trajectory of a generation.” 

“[...] It's also the policies, the policies that will back up America's unions and union workers. Again, not unlike the infrastructure bill itself. We saw the difference between talk and action. 

“We took action when it came to Buy America rules – stronger under the Biden-Harris Administration – because if you're getting taxpayer dollars for infrastructure, you ought to be building with American-made construction materials. 

“We got upwards of a million construction workers well-earned raises because we knew it was time to take action on prevailing wage for the first time in 40 years in this country. 

“And after years of advocacy by cement masons and plasterers and other unions, and after years of talk, the Biden-Harris Administration delivered the Butch Lewis Pension Rescue to take action to protect the futures and the pensions for more than 1 million workers who deserve that support. “I also want to highlight the good work that I see taking place, including in OPCMIA, to bring more people into the trades who maybe don't have a family history in those good careers, because we know that unions are at their most powerful when they are introducing people to new ladders into the middle class that they didn't have before. 

“We've got a lot to be proud of and a lot more to do, but the biggest reason that I wanted to join you today is because I know that you already understand, to your core, not just how construction works, but what policy and politics is all about, which is especially hard to keep track of sometimes in a season like this.” 

—    

On the legacy of the infrastructure decade:  

“I mentioned those kids in Wisconsin that I met getting introduced to apprenticeships. And the more I reflect on why that visit was so powerful [...] I could see something changing on their faces right then and there.  "At first, I thought it was that they were looking at construction and infrastructure differently. And of course, they were. But [...] I saw something else was happening. They weren't just looking at this career differently. They were looking at themselves differently. They were beginning to see how they could thrive, how they could contribute, and how they could belong. How they could make something important out of their lives and their careers. They saw their future in a whole new light   “When you're a plasterer or cement mason building our future, literally building our future, you don't just come to understand things about your craft or about the political system or about the economy. You come to better understand yourself and where you fit in the world and the value that you are bringing. Yes, to your family and your household, also to your country's economy. A proud tradition that you are part of.  

“You are building and shaping a future that your kids are going to be proud of. And we're proud of working with you on that and with your members and leaders at the forefront of this. There's no going back because you are closing the gap between what America is now and what America can be. 

“I am certain that a century from now, future Americans are going to look back on the work that we've done the same way that our generation looks back at the Hoover Dam and see how this administration got things done. See how union labor got things done. And see that by creating stronger, reliable infrastructure, we made them better off. And we're doing that hand-in-hand together.  

“That's going to be your legacy. That's going to be the legacy of the Biden-Harris administration. And that will be the legacy of this infrastructure decade.” 



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