Between the Obama administration and Democratic majorities in Congress, construction unions have had the political wind at their backs for more than a year. But with industry unemployment just under 25%, labor hopes the winds of change won’t hit Capitol Hill during November’s midterm elections.
With a mission to keep its momentum going, hundreds of construction union leaders met in Washington, D.C., for their annual legislative conference on April 18-21. Labor leaders savored such policy victories as the repeal of the Bush- era ban on federal project labor agreements and pushing Davis-Bacon provisions into American Recovery and Reinvestment Act projects. But Mark Ayers, president of the AFL-CIO’s Building and Construction Trades Dept., still rallied attendees to focus on keeping their friends in office. “May God have mercy upon us if we allow the majorities of Congress to change this November,” he said.