2024 Elections
Construction Unions Well-Represented at Democratic Convention
Brent Booker, general president of the Laborers' International Union of North America, addresses the 2024 Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 19.
Photo by Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images
As the Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago on Aug. 19, delegates approved the party's 2024 platform, a wide-ranging, 92-page document that outlines policy priorities—with infrastructure near the top of the list.
That domestic priority is familiar ground for construction industry groups. It reiterates Biden Administration statements from the run-up to the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the continuing rollout of funding and grant competitions that have flowed from that $1.2-trillion measure.
The platform says the law has funded more than 57,000 projects so far in highways, transit, rail and other sectors of transportation, and work to replace lead drinking-water lines, build clean energy projects and expand broadband internet, among other investments.
Jobs Impact
With the infrastructure law, the subsequent Inflation Reduction Act and other legislation and initiatives, the platform says 880,000 construction jobs have been added so far in this administration. It stresses that projects carry Davis-Bacon prevailing-wage requirements for workers and provisions to use project labor agreements to gain added incentives such as tax credits. The document also notes Buy America mandates for IIJA projects.
The platform takes a swipe at the Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, saying he accomplished little on the infrastructure front while in the White House.
In 2018, Trump did propose what his administration calculated was a $1.5-trillion infrastructure plan, but only $200 billion of that was direct federal funding. The rest was to come from state and local funds and the private sector. The proposal went nowhere in Congress.
In labor policy, the platform says Democrats will continue to push for the Protecting the Right to Organize, or PRO, Act—organized labor’s top legislative priority. The measure was introduced in Congress but has yet to be approved. Business groups, such as the Associated Builders and Contractors, strongly oppose the bill.
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At the convention, organized labor was well-represented among the first day’s many speakers.
Laborers', IBEW Leaders Address Convention
One session featured six labor union leaders, including general presidents of two construction unions that have endorsed Harris.
“For decades, we fought for more investment in our infrastructure while Trump made empty promises," Brent Booker, general president of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, told delegates. "The Biden-Harris administration delivered.”
Kenneth Cooper, general president of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, said, "We're building a new energy future while providing great-paying jobs and a stable retirement for all working families.” He added, “Every step of the way, Kamala Harris has been there for us.”
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters had sought to speak at the convention. But as of Aug. 19, it had not received a response to its request, said Kara Deniz, a spokeswoman for the union, which is an affiliate of North America’s Building Trades Unions.
Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien addressed the Republican National Convention in July, a change from the union’s past practices. He told GOP attendees that the Teamsters "are here to say, we are not beholden to any one or any party.”
The estimated 1.3-million member union has yet to endorse any presidential candidate but has been polling members related to that choice. Voting will continue through August, Deniz said earlier this month.
