IBEW Local 103 Business Manager Lou Antonellis joined America’s Work Force Union Podcast on Nov. 2 to discuss how a Biden administration would greatly benefit the labor movement.
Energizing the voters
At the top of his segment, Antonellis spoke about the election and the importance of voting. IBEW 103, which is over 7,000 members strong, has most of their membership in Massachusetts, while some others are located in the swing state of New Hampshire. Winning New Hampshire would greatly benefit the Biden administration and Antonellis knows this.
He said that they need to motivate their members in New Hampshire to vote and remember how badly the last four years have been for workers. Another four years under the Trump administration could stop the progress of the labor movement right in its tracks.
Working during the pandemic
Later on in his interview, Antonellis spoke about how his local fared during the COVID-19 pandemic and that while work slowed down at the beginning of the pandemic, their members will continue working on a backlog of projects going into 2021.
Working during the pandemic has forced some changes on construction sites and the workers were required to abide by a new set of safety regulations and standards including social distancing and adequate and often handwashing to ensure the safety of themselves and their coworkers.
He added that construction workers are used to wearing protective equipment, so the new standards regarding facemasks and other Personal Protective Equipment do not bother them, as they are used to taking the highest amount of safety precautions and strictly following regulations.
Labor unions for Biden
During the latter half of Antonellis’ segment, he spoke about why union members should vote for Biden. He said that the Trump administration has no infrastructure plan, and has no plans on getting one together, whereas Biden has a robust plan, focusing on transitioning to clean energy. Pushing for clean energy would create millions of jobs for the entire clean energy industry and help boost the economy.
Antonellis concluded his interview by saying that he is cautiously optimistic about this election and that a Biden administration would be the most beneficial to furthering the labor movement.