For Immediate Release: November 6, 2021

Contact: Mark Brueggenjohann  202-728-6014

 

IBEW Members Celebrate Passage of Historic 

Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act

  

IBEW President Lonnie R. Stephenson issued the following statement:

Nearly one year ago, the American people voted in record numbers for a new president and majorities in Congress that would prioritize working families by making bold and visionary investments in our nation’s crumbling infrastructure. Today, our elected leaders made good on that promise. IBEW members and working people everywhere are celebrating the passage of the Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act.

Making once-in-a-generation investments in our country, this legislation ushers in a new era of worker-centric prosperity – one characterized by good, union jobs that will put millions to work modernizing our electric grid, repairing and expanding the vital transportation services we all rely on, and creating the reduced-carbon energy solutions that will power our economy well into the 21st century and beyond.

IBEW members have long called for the kind of historic funding levels that will transform life in America and we are eager, willing, and able to get to work rebuilding this country and powering our economy. We will lead the way in building out the charging infrastructure needed for the wide-scale adoption of electric vehicles, buses, trains, and trucks. And we will continue our critical work as the power professionals who build and maintain the grid that makes life in America possible.

We commend President Biden’s leadership in addressing the climate crisis and encourage the Biden administration to continue supporting carbon-free nuclear energy. IBEW members also applaud the strong labor protections found in this legislation and will always push for the strongest labor standards possible across all infrastructure investments, including in the critical area of broadband expansion.

Restoring the middle class has always been at the heart of President Biden’s ambitious plan to Build Back Better, and the IBEW is proud to stand with President Biden, Vice President Harris and Congress in fighting for the union workers who built the middle class and our great nation.

     ###

The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) represents approximately 775,000 members and retirees who work in a wide variety of fields, including construction, utilities, manufacturing, telecommunications, broadcasting, railroads and government.