SMART General President Joseph Sellers, Jr., along with other union leaders, celebrated the signing of the five-year $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill.
“The bill can create jobs for existing SMART members and spur new union jobs, which will help us grow the power of union,” said Sellers in a prepared statement on the SMART website.
“The bill includes over $1 billion in funding for Indoor Air Quality for schools along with commercial and residential buildings that can be used for badly needed HVAC upgrades,” he said.
Sellers also noted the legislation will invest $25 billion in airport and $17 billion in port infrastructure to not only address repair and maintenance backlogs, but to invest in keeping America’s supply chain moving.
“And all of this will be done with funding conditional on the use of American made products and material – an important diversion from the past, where government purchases and toothless Buy America enforcement undermined American workers and jobs,” he added.
Besides Sellers, other union leaders also praised the passage of the bill.
AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler hailed the legislation as a monumental political and legislative accomplishment.
“After decades of delay and decline, America’s workers stand ready to rebuild our country,” she said.
“This $1 trillion investment in roads, bridges, transit, rail, climate change mitigation, electric vehicles, clean drinking water, high-speed Internet, resilient transmission lines and more is centered around the creation of good union jobs,” said Shuler.
“Finally, at long last, infrastructure week is really here,” she added.
North America’s Building Trades Unions President Sean McGarvey praised the lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who negotiated in good faith and delivered for the American people. He thanked Democrats and those Republicans who put the country first and joined with their colleagues in resisting threats and politics as usual by voting yes.