WASHINGTON, DC– In support of the Democratic Governors Association’s Jobs Policy Summit, the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO issued the following statement from President Edward Wytkind:
“We congratulate the Democratic Governors Association (DGA) and the labor leaders standing with them for the strong recommendations developed at today’s Jobs Policy Summit held in Baltimore. In particular, we applaud DGA for putting its weight behind a serious jobs initiative that would revitalize the nation’s crumbling surface transportation system.
“By investing at both the federal and state levels, we can put millions of Americans to work in transportation operations, construction, manufacturing and maintenance. At a time when GOP presidential hopefuls lack a vision for rebuilding our failing transportation system—or worse—attempt to fool voters with history rewrites about their own jobs-creating prowess, we are proud to support the real initiatives of the Democratic governors to address America’s severe and chronic unemployment crisis.
“Today’s roll-out by Democratic governors and labor leaders reveals the true leaders in statehouses as some governors have chosen to fight for a radical, anti-worker agenda, such as the toxic anti-union rhetoric heard from South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley this week. In her State of the State speech, she demonstrated disdain for South Carolina workers and attacked the most basic freedom of collective bargaining when she said: ‘We’ll make the unions understand full well that they are not needed, not wanted, and not welcome in the state of South Carolina.’ In sharp contrast, the governors at today’s summit are focused on the real challenges facing America today: creating good jobs and rebuilding America’s economy.
“We join DGA in calling for action to complete long-delayed bills that will expand and modernize our transit and aviation systems, highways, bridges, rail networks and ports.
“We also applaud Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s commitment to help businesses fill empty positions and create new ones, and we support the labor leaders standing today with DGA pledging to push forward new policy initiatives that will give the 25 million Americans seeking full-time employment the chance to go back to work and support their families.”
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The Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO, represents 32 member unions in the aviation, rail, transit, motor carrier, highway, longshore, maritime and related industries. For more information, visit us at www.ttd.org or on Facebook and Twitter.
