Better Builder Program incentivizes safety and higher wages in Texas

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Matt Gonzales

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Laborers’ International Union of North America (LiUNA) Local 1095 Business Manager Matt Gonzales joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and discussed efforts to promote union jobs through the Better Builder Program, which requires contractors to certify commitments to improved safety and higher payroll.

Local 1095 represents about 1,000 workers in central southwest Texas.

The Better Builder Program requires contractors to hire a specified percentage of local workers, pay a living wage, provide Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) training and consent to independent jobsite monitoring to ensure workers are properly classified. The program has been adopted by the City of Austin and has resulted in a higher percentage of union jobs at higher wages, Gonzales said.

Gonzales also talked about efforts to recruit apprentices to meet the ongoing demand of Austin’s construction boom and the need to organize non-union workers. While Texas is a So-Called “Right to Work” state, he believes many workers were fed up with their pay and working conditions, and as a result, left their jobs during the Great Resignation. More workers are demanding dignified pay and better working conditions, he added.

Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics:

America’s Work Force is the only daily labor podcast in the US and has been on the air since 1993, supplying listeners with useful, relevant input into their daily lives through fact-finding features, in-depth interviews, informative news segments and practical consumer reports. America’s Work Force is committed to providing an accessible venue in which America's workers and their families can hear discussion on important, relevant topics such as employment, healthcare, legislative action, labor-management relations, corporate practices, finances, local and national politics, consumer reports and labor issues.

America’s Work Force Union Podcast is brought to you in part by our sponsors: AFL-CIO, American Federation of Government Employees, American Federation of Musicians Local 4, Alliance for American Manufacturing, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, Brotherhood of Maintenance of Way Employes-IBT, Boyd Watterson, Columbus/Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council, Communication Workers of America, Mechanical Insulators Labor Management Cooperative Trust, International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Allied Workers Local 50, International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Crafts, International Union of Painters and Allied Trades District Council 6, Ironworkers Great Lakes District Council, Melwood, The Labor Citizen newspaper, Laborers International Union of North America, The National Labor Office of Blue Cross and Blue Shield, North Coast Area Labor Federation, Ohio Federation of Teachers, United Labor Agency, United Steelworkers.

Better Builder Program incentivizes safety and higher wages in Texas

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