America’s Building Trades Unions See Infrastructure and Clean Energy as Pathways to Economic Growth

WASHINGTON, May 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — Infrastructure and Clean Energy were the focus of Day Three of the 2009 Legislative Conference of the Building and Construction Trades Department.

Representative James Oberstar (D-MN), Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in the US House of Representatives, confirmed the commitment of his committee to enact a re-authorization of the federal highway program this year.

Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, President and CEO of Green for All, urged America’s Building Trades Unions to engage community, economic, and social justice groups in discussions to match the growing need for the retrofitting of buildings and the transition to a cleaner energy future with the creation of pathways for secure careers through building retro-fitting.

Delegates also heard from US Representative George Miller, Chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, as well as US Senator-Elect Al Franken. Both speakers made strong pitches for the enactment of the Employee Free Choice Act.

The Building and Construction Trades Department is an alliance of 13 national and international unions that collectively represent 2.5 million skilled craft men and women in the United States and Canada.

SOURCE Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO