Washington, D.C. – August 20, 2021 – North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) President Sean McGarvey released the following statement applauding the election of Liz Shuler as President of the AFL-CIO:

“North America’s Building Trades Unions applaud this morning’s AFL-CIO election.  Today, the American Labor Movement made history by electing Liz Shuler as President, the first woman to ever hold the office.  She joins Fred Redmond and Tefere Gebre as the most diverse leadership team in the storied history of the AFL-CIO.

“Liz is a smart, savvy, compassionate, and visionary leader who understands the struggles working families experience. The consummate professional, Liz’s steady hand and keen ability to stand on principle while working to forge consensus that will better the lives of working people, is just the type of leader the Labor Movement needs at the helm during this critical juncture for workers, their families and our great nation.

“As we congratulate Liz and her team and wish the entire AFL-CIO family success, we are proud to stand with all of organized labor in this new chapter and look forward to our work together to drive positive, meaningful change for hard working Americans and all those seeking the promise of ‘the American Dream.’”

###

Media Contact: Betsy Barrett (202) 756-4623 | bbarrett@nabtu.org

About NABTU: North America’s Building Trades Unions is an alliance of 14 national and international unions in the building and construction industry that collectively represent over 3 million skilled craft professionals in the United States and Canada. Each year, our unions and our signatory contractor partners invest almost $2 billion in private-sector money to fund and operate over 1,900 apprenticeship training and education facilities across North America that produce the safest, most highly trained, and productive, skilled craft workers found anywhere in the world. NABTU is dedicated to creating economic security and employment opportunities for its construction workers by safeguarding wage and benefits standards, promoting responsible private capital investments, investing in renowned apprenticeship and training, and creating pathways to the middle class for women, communities of color and military veterans in the construction industry. For more information, please visit www.nabtu.org, and to learn more about the building trades efforts during this pandemic, please follow the hashtag #buildingtradeswhateverittakes.