COVID-19 Relief Bills Leave Behind Nation’s 11 Million Construction Workers and Their Families
Leading Int’l Building Trades Union Demands Relief for Blue Collar Workforce
PHILADELPHIA and PITTSBURGH – COVID-19 has decimated the U.S. construction industry, and Congress has done little to stop it or to provide relief for workers in this major jobs sector, a leading international building trade union charged Monday.
Although construction is the 6th largest U.S. employment sector – larger than the transportation, financial, and information sectors – the needs of construction workers have been excluded from COVID-19 relief bills currently being considered by Congress.
Construction labor officials say the industry is being overlooked.
“Millions of construction workers and their families are getting totally wiped out, and Congress is doing very little about it,” fumed Ken Rigmaiden, General President of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT), which represents more than a hundred thousand building trade workers. “If construction workers don’t work, they don’t get paid. They can’t work remotely. They don’t receive furloughs, or paid leave. But not one Congressional COVID-19 bill grants real relief to this vulnerable workforce.”
As a result, the nation’s 11 million construction workers and their families are getting left behind.
Denzel Buie, father of a two-year-old daughter in Philadelphia, is nervous about how the lack of work will affect his bills, healthcare, and retirement savings.
“I am worried about paying not only my bills but mother’s as well. She looks to me for help and I fear I will no longer be able to,” he said.
He currently has health insurance but with the limiting of construction work, Buie worries he may not meet the hourly requirements necessary for continued coverage.
Like Buie, the slowdown of construction has workers across the country experiencing anxiety and uncertainty.
Nate Bier, a construction worker specializing in drywall installation in Pittsburgh, is terrified about what will happen to his young family when he loses his health insurance due to Congressional inaction.
“I don’t know what they’re waiting for in Washington,” said Bier. “I just got cleared by my doctor to return to work and my job is shut down. My son is only a month old, and he’s on my health care; he’s already been to the hospital once. What happens when my medical benefits run out? ”
Bier received clearance to return to work following an injury and needs to work not just for the income but to preserve his family’s health care.
Nate Bier and Denzel Buie are two of the millions of construction workers losing their jobs as cities and states have been forced to close down construction sites and bring U.S. construction to a grinding halt.
The IUPAT estimates that at least 50% of construction sites across the country have already been shut down, and fears that number could rise as high as 90%. The union agrees that shutdowns are necessary in many places to protect the health of employees and the public—but believes Congress has a responsibility to act so that workers are protected both on and off the job, especially in states with few, if any, worker protections. Layoffs are forcing workers to choose between their safety and making ends meet on basic items like food and prescriptions.
The union is urging Congress to take 4 bold action steps to stand up for vulnerable construction workers:
- Provide immediate unemployment to laid off construction workers at 100% lost wages
- Provide continued health coverage so no one goes uninsured in the crisis
- Secure retirement plans affected by the crisis
- Invest in American infrastructure to quickly put construction workers back to work
The bills Congress is considering include provisions like student loan suspension, and airline industry bailouts – but nothing to specifically address key needs of the millions of working families in construction who are finding themselves out of work and with uncertain futures.
“Not a single Congressional COVID-19 bill gives construction workers relief for the specific needs they have in the wake of this pandemic,” said IUPAT General President Ken Rigmaiden. “That’s why the IUPAT has proposed a Bold Action Platform for Working Families to demand Congress act now for these workers.”
THE INTERNATIONAL UNION OF PAINTERS AND ALLIED TRADES (IUPAT)
Represents a growing community of over 110,000 active and retired craftspeople in the United States and Canada. The IUPAT membership extends far beyond the workplace.
Recognized as one of the most active unions in the labor movement, IUPAT members help shape their communities in many ways: through an abiding commitment to service, by fighting passionately for workers’ rights that benefit all working families, and through effective worker education and mobilization.
Visit www.IUPAT.org to learn more.
