Colorado is getting more than $3 billion from Congress’ 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Act, but the state’s labor unions say union workers have been excluded from the projects receiving that funding.
The majority of the funding is going towards improvements to roads, bridges, power generation, public transportation and water. However, during a roundtable in Denver on Tuesday, labor leaders told U.S. Rep. Yadira Caraveo information about which projects are being funded and what their schedules are has not been shared, even as many of them are entering the construction phase. Leaders said the lack of communication is preventing their members from working on the projects and benefiting from the influx of federal money.
“We're out of the loop,” Zach Esquibel, an electrical workers’ union representative told Caraveo. “There needs to be a better process for our members, our contractors, to know when these jobs are [and] what money is allocated, so they can go after these projects.”
Caraveo said she wants to find out why exactly the communications breakdown is happening and plans to look for ways to improve the communications process around funding disbursement.
“I can definitely look into and see if there's some sort of loophole that needs to be closed, some sort of legislation that can be passed,” said Caraveo. “We're definitely going to make sure: do we as a delegation, or as Congressmembers, need to go in and fix something to make sure that the things are hitting the ground the way that they're supposed to?”
She also emphasized the importance of including union workers in infrastructure funding.
“We need to make sure that it is being implemented in a way where we are employing people who have good practices, who take care of their workers and who pay them a wage where they're able to take care of their families,” Caraveo said.
Another concern union leaders brought to the roundtable is a need for more apprenticeships, including as part of the large projects getting federal infrastructure funding. They said the lack of apprenticeship programs on both a state and national level is contributing to a shortage of young workers in their trades.
“We're finding ourselves in a tight spot right now,” carpenters’ union representative Mark Thompson said. “In Colorado, there's more work than there is qualified workforce, because we haven't focused on apprenticeship opportunities. If these big projects are gone, and there's no structured apprenticeship programs involved in them, then that's where our communities and our youth are getting left behind.”
The union representatives also said their groups are missing out on a large portion of the workforce because of the barriers undocumented people face in joining unions. Federal law guarantees the right to unionize regardless of a person’s immigration status, but many noncitizens seek out non-union work due to fears around the employment verification process.
“We have a lot of those men and women that are 18, 19 years old, ready to come to our crafts, and I want them in our crafts,” construction trades representative Jason Wardrip said. “They're here for the American dream. They do not need to be put behind.”
Other issues the unions discussed at the meeting included wage theft and enforcement of employment law violations. Representatives from five labor groups attended: electrical workers’ union IBEW Local 68, the Southwest Mountain States Regional Council of Carpenters, sheet metal workers’ SMART Local 9, Pipefitters Local 208 and the Colorado Building and Construction Trades Council.
