Sean McGarvey, President of North America’s Building Trades Unions, joined the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about NABTU’s multi-city highlight tour. McGarvey also spoke on about Apprenticeship Readiness Programs and the extraordinary efforts by the building trades members help rebuild Interstate 95.
McGarvey discussed NABTU’s current multi-city highlight tour, which raises awareness on the effort by Local building trades Union who are making a major effort to create a pipeline to the trades for members of the underserved and high-risk communities. The tour made stops at designated cities where Locals have gone the extra mile to grow their membership within those communities. At each stop, McGarvey and guests tour Local training facilities and hear from Local Union leaders about the projects their members are working to build.
He stressed the need to get more young people in the trades, as unions keep individuals in the middle class. McGarvey said the federal government has created an estimated $4 trillion worth of infrastructure work through recently passed legislation. In order to man these projects, the building trades must invest in a recruitment effort to get men and women intesterested in this work. He specifically noted the effort to recruit members of the underserved and high-risk communities into ARPs. He said there are currently 250,000 members in ARPs throughout the country.
McGarvey also spoke about the rebuilding of Interstate-95 in Philadelphia after a tanker truck caught fire and incinerated part of the bridge. It was an extraordinary undertaking by building trades members to work together to rebuild a key U.S. highway in only 12 days. McGarvey shared his appreciation for the efforts made by the tradesmen and tradeswomen.
Listen to the entire episode to learn more about these topics: