WASHINGTON – April 3, 2020 – Today, North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) issued the following statement from President Sean McGarvey calling on federal lawmakers to pass more provisions to support the health, safety and economic security of American workers in the next stimulus:

“As the negative effects of this crisis unfold and wreak havoc on hardworking families, we urge Congress in the strongest terms possible not to pump the breaks on additional stimulus and relief that is so clearly required. The numbers announced yesterday will grow week by week, and tens of millions of Americans already faced with uncertainly and job loss will be without health care coverage as many people out of a job for a month will lose employer-sponsored health care.

“The health, safety and economic security of Americans must be priority number one for lawmakers. This fourth stimulus package must not be discounted. We need immediate action to address COBRA subsidies, pension security, and 401(k) relief, and we must quickly provide the resources only the federal government can bring struggling cities and states as they address critical and essential infrastructure needs.

“Now is the time to get real. History will record who stepped up and who sat on their hands. Now is the time for true leadership.”

###

Press Contact: Betsy Barrett, 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 over $1.6 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. http://www.nabtu.org/