In September, NABTU visited Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a variety of events continuing the nationwide Opportunity Pipeline Road Tour… This event specifically focused on the urgent need for childcare accommodations for all workers, but especially those in the building trades who work untraditional hours.

The union careers being created by these funds are not only going to sustain a lot of Wisconsin families for years to come, but are in the process of reviving the economies of whole communities. 

“When you look back 10 years from now, … you’re going to see whole communities changed,” NABTU president Sean McGarvey said.

On August 24, NABTU visited UA Local 572 in Nashville, TN as the fifth stop of the Opportunity Pipeline Road Tour. This event featured several significant local speakers including Mayor John Cooper, Mayoral Candidate Freddie O’Connell, Tennessee Valley Authority’s Justin Maiherhoffer, Stand Up Nashville’s Nathaniel Carter, and more. The event also included several inspiring speeches from Music City Construction Careers ARP graduates.

“One of the country’s top union officials, Sean McGarvey, the president of North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU), brought an urgent message to the Sheetmetal Workers Union training center in Lower Mills last Wednesday, pitching a once-in-a-generation opportunity to build out massive infrastructure funded by the federal government.”

On June 28, NABTU visited St. Louis, Missouri at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 training center. This event highlighted the career opportunities created through St. Louis’s Building Union Diversity Apprenticeship Readiness Program, as well as the new partnership between TradesFutures and the National Urban League aimed at recruiting and retaining more underrepresented communities to building trades careers.

On June 1, NABTU visited Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at the Laborers’ District Council training center. This event focused on how the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council has worked diligently to provide pathways to building trades careers for local underserved communities.

On May 17, NABTU made the second stop of its national road tour in Boston, Massachusetts at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 17 training center. This event focused on how the Greater Boston Building Trades Unions and Massachusetts State Building Trades Unions are leading the way with their diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts – particularly through the Building Pathways Apprenticeship Readiness Program.

“Leaders at an event held at the Local Union 189 Thursday called Columbus America’s “opportunity city,” and said Ohio is becoming the nation’s capital for upwards mobility.”

“Workers with union wages and benefits earn enough money to support their families, invest in their homes and neighborhoods, spend money in their local communities, and provide opportunities for their children. Unions are the foundation of a strong middle-class.”

On March 30, Team NABTU kicked off its national Opportunity Pipeline Road Tour in Columbus, OH at the Plumbers & Pipefitters 189 training center.

This study expands on an earlier study that found that union labor is more productive than open shop labor and projects that employed union labor cost less, despite the higher average all-in wage rate paid to union labor.

“I think offshore wind energy is poised to support good paying union jobs, middle class wages, we’re seeing a lot of positive movement for it,” says Trevor Falk, who is a special assistant for energy policy at NABTU.

In 2021, NABTU commissioned ICERES to conduct a study of female and minority participation in the U.S. construction industry, with particular focus on historical trends in participation, successful initiatives to increase female and minority participation, and opportunities for future growth.

“The American Rescue Plan Act, which cost a whopping $1.9 trillion, had a slew of provisions tucked into it to help battle the fallout from the pandemic and plug holes in the social safety net.”

“I do not come from a lineage of tradespeople, nor did I ever think as a young person that I would find a home in construction. Instead, I wandered through a thousand interests, a hundred places, multiple schools, and several career paths before arriving at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 429 in Nashville, Tenn.”

“The University has committed to employing all-union labor for any construction project over $25 million for the next five years as part of an agreement with the Rhode Island Building and Construction Trades Council, according to a press release.”

Madison-based concert promoter FPC Live announced Monday that it has finalized two separate labor agreements for its $50 million concert venue complex proposed for the Deer District in downtown Milwaukee.

Micron Technology plans to spend up to $100 billion building a mega-complex of computer chip plants in Syracuse’s northern suburbs in what would be the largest single private investment in New York history.

Savannah River Nuclear Solutions and the Augusta Building and Construction Trades Council signed an agreement that will pave the way for a major construction project, bringing thousands of jobs to skilled craft and trade workers.