The Dakota Access Pipeline project under construction. (Creative Commons.)
By Doug Cunningham
Workers Independent News is heard Monday through Friday after the 6 and 11 p.m. news on 97.9 WHAV.
President Donald Trump met with building trades union leaders and reiterated his interest in infrastructure projects to create jobs as he moved to restart the Keystone XL and Dakota pipeline projects.
Sean McGarvey, president of North America’s Building Trades unions, says Trump “gave continued hope to thousands of skilled craft construction professionals in America’s heartland for whom the Keystone XL and Dakota Access pipeline projects have been an economic lifeline.”
The North America Building Trades Unions statement says the building trades are encouraged that that “one of President Trump’s first official actions will put tens of thousands of Americans to work and unleash billions and billions of dollars of earned wages into our economy…”
But McGarvey says Trump did not say he would preserve the federal Davis-Bacon prevailing wage law.
The building trades unions say the pipeline projects are union labor and privately financed and because they are under collective bargaining agreements they include apprenticeship programs “for historically neglected communities.”
UAW Says End of TPP A Victory for American Workers
United Auto Workers President Dennis Williams says he’s glad to see the TPP trade deal derailed.
In a statement, Williams says UAW members have long rallied against “the deeply flawed TPP.” The UAW commended President Donald Trump for withdrawing from the TPP. The union called it a victory for American workers and families.