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Building and Construction Trades Department Endorses Senator Barack Obama for President

Vote by Governing Board of Presidents is Unanimous…All 13 Affiliated Unions Vow Unprecedented Political Education and Mobilization Effort

WASHINGTON, DC - The Building and Construction Trades Department today (Wednesday, June 18) announced its endorsement of Senator Barack Obama for President of the United States. The endorsement was made official after the Department’s Governing Board of Presidents approved the endorsement by unanimous vote.

“Our endorsement today of Senator Obama marks the beginning of the fight to return the reins of power to a presidential administration that places high value on the interests of America’s working families,” said Building Trades President Mark H. Ayers. “We have pledged to Senator Obama our determination to engage our members in detailed conversations concerning the stark differences between his view of America and that of Senator John McCain – whose candidacy, in our minds, is simply a warmed-over version of the anti-worker, anti-union tenure of George W. Bush.”

In response to today’s endorsement, Senator Obama stated, “"I'm honored to receive the endorsement of the Building & Construction Trades Department. Their leaders and members are committed to hardworking Americans, and I look forward to fighting with them for the causes that unite us: worker protections, the right to organize, an economy that works for all, and a 21st century infrastructure that creates jobs and makes America more competitive. I thank them for standing with me, and I will stand with them when I am President.”

This endorsement of Senator Obama is offered with compelling reason. Through both word and deed, Senator Obama has made it unmistakably clear that he is the right candidate to represent the interests of building trades members and their families. “But, perhaps most importantly,” said Ayers, “our unions believe in the promise of the future…and the promise of what this country can be. We accept as true Senator Obama’s belief that in the face of war, we believe there can be peace. In the face of despair, we believe there can be hope. And in the face of a politics that's shut us out, that's told us to settle, that's divided us for too long, we believe we can be one people, reaching for what's possible, building a more perfect union.’”

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