International Union of Painters and Allied Trades and IUPAT District Council 9 Slam Trump for Halting Necessary Infrastructure Work in New York City
Press Releases
HANOVER, MD and NEW YORK, NY— The IUPAT and IUPAT District Council 9 strongly condemn the Trump administration for halting necessary infrastructure work over “DEI” concerns.
IUPAT General President Jimmy Williams, Jr.:
“Trump’s obsession with race and gender is killing jobs and putting union members out of work. In case you needed another reminder that he’s no friend to the working class or to the labor movement, he’s just cancelled $18 billion in critical infrastructure work in New York City. This will put union workers on the unemployment line and make our communities less safe. Trump is the reason jobs are disappearing, not DEI.”
IUPAT District Council 9 Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer Joe Azzopardi:
“The Trump administration claiming they’re stopping projects “in order to get them done safely and quickly” is a really poor excuse for killing jobs. We know that the union construction workers of New York City are the safest, most efficient, and best workers around, and they have their hard hats in hand, ready to work. Our members are proud to build and maintain the infrastructure that gets hardworking New Yorkers where they need to go, like the MTA and building the new Hudson River train tunnel. On behalf of the 11,000 members of District Council 9, we call on the Trump administration to end this ridiculous pause, let our members work, and stop killing jobs in our industry.”
IUPAT leaders and members will continue to advocate for their interests on and off the jobsite, no matter who’s in office.
Contact: Ryan Kekeris, rkekeris@iupat.org
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The International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) represents a growing community of over 140,000 active and retired craftspeople in the United States and Canada. The IUPAT membership extends far beyond the workplace. Recognized as one of the most active unions in the labor movement, IUPAT members help shape their communities in many ways: through an abiding commitment to service, by fighting passionately for workers’ rights that benefit all working families, and through effective worker education and mobilization.