Union Leaders Meet with Transportation Secretary Buttigieg to Discuss Labor Standards on DOT Grants and Projects

PHOTO: From left to right - Maine Building & Construction Trades Council President Jason Shedlock, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg & Maine Labor Climate Council Executive Director Francis Eanes.

On Tuesday and Wednesday this week union leaders from the Maine Building and Construction Trades Council, Maine AFL-CIO, Longshoremen Local 861, and the Maine Labor Climate Council met with US Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg to discuss the importance of labor standards on Department of Transportation grants and projects in Maine. Secretary Buttigieg held events on Tuesday and made two stops on the Portland waterfront Wednesday as part of a national tour to highlight federal infrastructure investments.

As part of the conversations, union leaders thanked Buttigieg for all of the work of the Biden Administration to prioritize and fund projects that create good union jobs, include the strongest labor standards and guarantee workers a free and fair chance to join a union. We lifted up the Project Labor Agreement on the upcoming Lincoln battery storage project that was just funded by the Department of Energy as a great example of the win-win-win model prioritized by the Biden Administration.

PHOTO: Maine AFL-CIO Executive Director Matt Schlobohm shakes hands with Secretary Buttigieg.

Union leaders also talked in depth about building out the offshore wind industry and pending grants for port build out. According to Matt Schlobohm, Maine AFL-CIO Executive Director, "We emphasized the urgency of including Project Labor Agreements on port build out and how important it is for funding of this scale to be paired with the strongest labor standards to guarantee good jobs."  The Secretary was very receptive and made clear that "Unions have had our back and we will have yours." The Maine Department of Transportation is currently seeking $456 million in federal funding to build out an offshore wind port.

Buttigieg touted a $14.2 million grant under President Biden’s Investing in America program at the International Marine Terminal on Commercial Street in Portland. He also promoted a $25 million federal grant that well help pay for an access rant off Interstate 295 with bicycle and pedestrian access to improve access to the planned Roux Institute campus at the site of the former B&M Baked Beans factory in Portland’s East Deering neighborhood.

The Secretary also toured the International Marine Terminal in Portland and met with members of ILA Local 861 as part of the tour. They also emphasized the importance of ports being built and staffed with union labor from start to finish.

On Tuesday, Buttigieg made a stop in Freeport to highlight federal investments in two major bridges under construction in Freeport, the Merrill Road Interchange Bridge crossing over I-295 and the Mallett Drive Bridge near Exit 22. Both bridges are being built with $17.7 million in federal funding, including $11 million from President Biden’s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Buttigieg said that the investments in the new law are not only to repair existing roads and bridges, but to strengthen the climate resilience, especially in states like Maine that have experienced severe storms in recent years.