Milwaukee, WI - September 6, 2023

Milwaukee, WI – September 6, 2023

Overview

In September, NABTU visited Milwaukee, Wisconsin for a variety of events continuing the nationwide Opportunity Pipeline Tour. Wednesday, September 6, consisted of a training center tour and press conference at the Milwaukee Electrical J.A.T.C. with Governor Tony Evers, Mayor Cavalier Johnson, and Rep. Gwen Moore all in attendance. Among other topics, 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. Then, on Thursday, September 7, the visit continued with a tour of an AFL-CIO Housing Investment Trust-funded project, The Couture, with executives from Barrett Lo Visionary Development LLC and J.H. Findorff & Son Inc.

In The News

TMJ Local News – NABTU, the Milwaukee Building-Construction Trades Council and EmpowHer, have collaborated with TradesFutures, a national non-profit, to provide childcare subsidies for local working families. “I think that we really need to have at least two years of good data, good feedback, really learning from families before we can go out and tell people what we think is going to work best,” explained Executive Director of Trades Futures, Nicole Schwartz.

WTMJ Radio – Both Evers and NABTU leaders are emphasizing the importance of workforce development .. and including diverse types of people. They’re looking especially to increase the number of women in the workforce like Ashley Szweda. Szweda is a journeywoman laborer for Local 113. She’s struggled to balance her early morning start time and the need for childcare for her two-year-old son.

WisBusiness – Nicole Schwartz, executive director of TradesFutures and a former teacher for Milwaukee Public Schools, said the pilot programs aim to identify solutions for supporting women in the industry. According to the nonprofit’s website, the Milwaukee pilot will provide 12 months of financial assistance for child care needs to 10 tradeswomen or apprentices. “What we hope to be able to do for this pilot project is to provide data and real guidance to policymakers, local partners, how they can really form the future of care,” she said.

The Daily Reporter – “You’re going to hear about all this federal investment we see it at the moment as an opportunity to provide an opportunity to the next generation of skilled trades professionals, what we like to call now the infrastructure generation. Never has there been an opportunity in the United States since the Greatest Generation came back from World War 2 and built the middle class in the United States as we face right now,” McGarvey said at a news conference, noting legislature signed by President Joe Biden.

The Daily Reporter – Barrett said the Couture was his “crown jewel” project and added local unions have provided 100% of labor. The project will create more than 2,000 construction jobs and 150 permanent jobs and has goals to hire 25% of its workforce as disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) and 40% of Milwaukee County residents, the developer noted.

TMJ Local News – “We’re going to do whatever it takes to ensure that the magnitude and breadth of our investments will help ensure that anyone from any background in any community committed to a construction career can find an opportunity to begin it,” said Sean McGarvey, President, North America’s Building Trades Unions.

Milwaukee Business News – “Behind me is a symphony,” said Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU). “When you see the men and women who are building that building, it’s some of the greatest music ever played.” “It’ll create stability in their lives, it’ll create stability in the lives of their family, it’ll create stability in their neighborhoods, which will create stability in our city,” Johnson said. “In the end, that helps us achieve the public safety that all of us want to see.” Further, Johnson said that The Couture represents the future of Milwaukee, saying he wants to see more developments like this in Milwaukee’s future.

Sharable Resources

Check out the video recordings from our training center and job site events.

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The more you know… "A day in the Life of Katie, a 42 year old MAGA Republican who believes Trump won in 2020 in spite of all evidence refuting it. Katie gets up at 6 a.m. and fills her coffeepot with water to prepare her morning coffee. The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal fought for minimum water-quality standards. With her first swallow of coffee, she takes her daily medication. Her medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to insure their safety and that they work as advertised. Fortunately, her husband’s insulin medicine has finally been capped at $35./month thanks to the work of the current Democratic President & activists pressuring big Pharma to keep the prices down. All but $10 of her own medications are paid for by her employer's medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid medical insurance - now Katie gets it too. She prepares her morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Katie’s bacon is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the meat packing industry. In the shower, Katie reaches for her shampoo. Her bottle is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents because some crybaby liberal fought for her right to know what she was putting on her body and how much it contained. Katie dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air she breathes is fairly clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws to stop industries from polluting our air. She walks to the subway station for her government-subsidized ride to work. It saves her considerable money in parking and transportation fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor. Katie begins her work day. She is hard working & has a good job with good pay, even though the CEO is paid over 1000 times per hour what she is paid! Once in a while she wonders if that’s morally right, but quickly squashes such radical thoughts. She does receive medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays, maternity leave, and vacation because some lazy liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Katie's employer pays these standards because Katie's employer doesn't want his employees to call the union. If Katie is hurt on the job or becomes unemployed, she'll get a worker compensation or unemployment check because some stupid libtard didn't think she should lose her home because of her temporary misfortune. It's noon and Katie needs to make a bank deposit so she can pay some bills. Katie's deposit is federally insured by the FDIC because some godless liberal wanted to protect Katie's money from unscrupulous bankers who ruined the banking system before the Great Depression. Katie has to pay her Fannie Mae-underwritten mortgage and her below-market federal student loan because some elitist liberal decided that Katie and the government would be better off if she was educated and earned more money over her lifetime. During the pandemic Katie received a special tax credit for her children because some old liberal church going President in 2021 thought it was the Christian thing to do to be able to reduce by over 40% the number of American children below the poverty line, all during a tough time for working class Americans. Unfortunately for Katie the GOP voted against extending the credit. Because of an unexpected pregnancy which she fortunately discovered early in her second week when the embryo was still only about 1/100th of an inch in length, and because she resides in a blue state, she has the freedom to make her own personal reproductive decisions based on her family situation. This is because radical feminazis had the gall to suggest many decades before, that basic reproductive rights are part of a woman’s basic rights and privacy. Unfortunately, upon learning of her pregnancy, her husband Jayson deserts his family, moving to a hidden location out of state, to be with another woman. Katie does not live in one of those states that has dictated that even at two weeks after conception & even though she cannot afford another child, and that she faces some health risks due to her age and two previous miscarriages, which she claims were totally under God’s control, she still has the freedom to decide what is best for herself, not Big Brother Government unilaterally forcing its decision on her. Katie is now home from work. She plans to visit her father this evening at his farm home in the country. She gets in her car for the drive. Her car is among the safest in the world because some America-hating liberal fought for car safety standards. She arrives at her childhood home. Her generation was the third to live in the house financed by Farmers' Home Administration because bankers didn't want to make rural loans. The house didn't have electricity until some big-government liberal stuck his nose where it didn't belong and demanded rural electrification. She is happy to see her father, a Veteran who is now retired. Her father lives on Social Security and a union pension because some wine-drinking, cheese-eating liberal made sure he could take care of himself so Katie wouldn't have to. Katie gets back in her car for the ride home, and turns on a radio talk show. The radio host keeps demonizing every liberal claiming they are all evil, lazy communists, and conservatives are good loyal Americans. He doesn't mention that Republicans have fought against every protection and benefit Katie enjoys throughout her day. Nor does he mention that currently the U.S.has the best economy of any industrial nation in the world in spite of world-wide inflation. Yet Katie agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals ruining our American lives! Ironically Katie’s own GOP representative in Congress claims credit for the new infrastructure plan that those commie Democrats passed, which has brought thousands of new jobs and several factories to Katie’s rural community, even though Katie’s representative voted AGAINST that infrastructure bill. Katie thinks and reassures herself, “After all, I'm self-made and believe everyone should take care of themselves, just like I have!(Shared from Kay Dee with updates by Paul Harris)

The naming of the "Inflation Reduction Act" and "Bidenomics" will go down in history as two of the biggest marketing and branding blunders of the 21st Century.

Four more years to completely ruin America. Union dolts.

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