Statement by Building Trades President Sean McGarvey on the GOP National Party Platform

WASHINGTON, Aug. 29, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is a statement by Sean McGarvey, President of the Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO, on the Republican Party Platform:

"After reading their 2012 party platform, I can only conclude that the fundamental goals of the Republican Party are detrimental to the interests of our members.

The 2012 Republican Platform demands an end to project labor agreements, calls for repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act and reaffirms that the national Republican Party is not interested in promoting public policy that helps build and sustain job opportunities for building trades members or promote effective local standards in the construction industry.

I appreciate that the platform contains language regarding infrastructure, and energy development, but I am having difficulty with their commitment to rebuild America when the House Republican leadership advances a budget plan that would have cut funding for transportation by 30 percent; the House leadership failed to produce a bipartisan surface transportation bill, and the platform contains inaccurate language regarding Davis-Bacon, an issue that has enjoyed strong, bipartisan congressional support for several years.

With unacceptable levels of unemployment, the Republican platform also fails to offer realistic solutions to our broken immigration system and includes an absurd notion to launch a new guest worker program, and continues the failed free trade policies of the past that have gutted our manufacturing base and eroded jobs for our members.      

We are pleased with the support we have had over the years from some members of the Republican Party that see the value in maintaining local standards through prevailing wage statures and seek greater efficiencies and certainty on construction projects through the application of Project Labor Agreements.  But, as the men and women who "Build It" in America, our members will not be deceived by a national party that seeks to repeal our essential policy priorities and now seeks to distract voters with divisive and polarizing issues.  Our members and indeed all Americans expect leadership, not pandering to the most extreme elements of any political party."

The Building and Construction Trades Department is an alliance of 13 national and international unions that collectively represent over 2 million skilled craft professionals in the United States and Canada

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SOURCE Building and Construction Trades Department