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Season 3, Episode 49

The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act is going to affect many

IUOE

 

Guest Name:


Justin Williams

Guest Website:


www.iuoe132.org

Guest Social Media:


Facebook

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Supportive Documents:


International Union of Operating Engineers Local 132 Attorney and Lobbyist Justin Williams returned to the America’s Work Force Union Podcast and spoke about the opportunity for work in the Local 132 jurisdiction.

The 4,000 members of Local 132 are ready to work on projects funded by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Williams said this funding is a long time coming and is needed to repair roads and bridges.

Thanks to the IIJA, there is a major need for people to join the trades, including becoming an operating engineer. He noted this is a great time for people to start a career that will provide them an opportunity to earn good wages, excellent health insurance and great retirement benefits.

Among the sectors in which members are working is the energy field. Williams said Local 132 has signed agreements with wind project developers to build and repower windmills. Due to the rising price of crude oil, there is also a major push to construct natural gas-fired powerhouses.

In addition to the work outlook, Williams spoke about the political environment in West Virginia.
The legislature just finished their session and the construction industry was able to stop a piece of bad legislation. State senators tried to cut the unemployment insurance from 26 to 12 weeks. This would negatively affect construction workers, who are seasonal workers.

He said members of the West Virginia legislature are starting to slowly acknowledge the repeal of the state’s Prevailing Wage did not work to create jobs. Those politicians who are disconnected from the reality of Prevailing Wage need to be voted out of office, he said.

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.

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