The need to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure is a hot topic this election year. Everyone realizes something must be done.
As a leading voice in the national dialogue about investing in infrastructure in the utility industry, UWUA President Mike Langford is successfully spearheading efforts on Capitol Hill and in State Houses to draw attention to the problem.
So far, these efforts have paid off in Chicago and Michigan. Local 18007 members at Peoples Gas in Chicago, and Michigan State Utility Workers Council (MSUWC) members at Consumers Energy are working on the biggest gas infrastructure rebuilding projects in the country.
These infrastructure projects will require decades of work by hundreds of utility workers making good wages, with benefits, in a safe work environment.
To meet the manpower needs for these projects, Local 18007 and MSUWC negotiated agreements with their companies to ensure the training is done the right way with utility workers training utility workers through the UWUA’s Power for America Training Trust (P4A).
To add to the importance and success of the projects, hundreds of veterans are being trained by P4A to do this work through the union’s Utility Workers Military Assistance Program (UMAP).
“UWUA members are the safest, most productive, highest skilled workers in the world, and no one can rebuild America better,” Langford says, adding, “And, there is no one better to be a UWUA member and do the work than those who have served our country.”