Union Construction Trades Say President Lays Out Common Sense Approach for Economic GrowthDate Posted:01/25/2012
Mark H. Ayers, President of the Building and Construction Trades Department, issued the following statement in response to President Obama's State of the Union Address
President Obama has called on Congress to come together and advance common sense policies that will continue to turn our economy around while strengthening core economic fundamentals that will pave the way for continued growth and shared prosperity moving forward. We commend the President and agree that this is a make or break moment for the American middle class and those who are striving to reach it.
The President laid out a balanced approach for Congress to pursue that will continue investments here at home that address our energy, employment, commercial and educational needs. Absent Congressional action, the President has again highlighted ways in which he will continue to explore avenues to create jobs, stabilize markets, provide consumers and homeowners’ protections, and continue to advocate for critical investments in education, training and infrastructure that will make us more competitive in the years to come.
Furthermore, the President’s announcement that he has formed an investigative unit to hold accountable those who recklessly initiated our economic free fall is welcomed by workers who have been blamed for the downturn and have cynically become a political target that, in many states, has resulted in lost wages, benefits and fundamental workers’ rights.
Over three months ago, our unions called on Congress to join with the President in advancing core elements of the American Jobs Act. After watching Congress spend most of 2011 mired in political brinksmanship, America’s Building Trades Unions are hopeful that the new year brings new urgency from Congress to address the critical challenge of our time as articulated by the President: that if you work hard, you should be able to do well enough to raise a family, own a home, and put a little something away for retirement. Contrary to the beliefs of some, that is not class warfare that is the American Dream.