As Construction Sector Unemployment Remains High, LIUNA Turns up the Heat on Congress to Pass a Highway Bill

WASHINGTON, March 9, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Despite the addition of 227,000 jobs to the overall economy last month, the latest construction jobs numbers released today by the U.S. Department of Labor reveal that unemployment in the construction industry remains high at 17.1 percent.  Nationwide, 1.4 million construction workers are still looking for work.

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Terry O'Sullivan, General President of LIUNA, made the following statement:

It's encouraging to see the economy adding jobs, but for America's construction workers, the outlook remains bleak. More than 1.4 million workers are still out of work and struggling to support their families.

Creating jobs must remain Congress' top priority – and passing a long-term Highway Bill that makes a full investment in rebuilding America's transportation systems is the single biggest piece of legislation to do it.  Despite this, extremist Republicans in Congress continue to play politics.

This week LIUNA turned up the heat, launching a provocative multi-media campaign – which includes hard-hitting radio ads, targeted direct mail and creative tactics – aimed at Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker John Boehner. 

On their home turf, we're sending a message to these GOP leaders that the threat posed by unsafe bridges is too great to ignore. At their worst, crumbling roads, bridges and highways are putting a chokehold on the economy – and at their worst, as we saw with the 2007 bridge collapse on I-35 in Minneapolis – they can be deadly accidents waiting to happen. 

As today's jobs numbers show, we need a long-term Highway Bill to create jobs.  We also need it to protect bridges and roads, lives and our economy.

For more information, to view campaign ad materials and listen to the radio ads, visit www.highwaybill.org.

The half-million members of LIUNA – the Laborers' International Union of North America – are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build America.

SOURCE Laborers' International Union of North America