LIUNA members are experienced Construction Craft Laborers (CCL) who build our nation’s transportation infrastructure. Laborers work includes many tasks - from clearing and grading, pile driving, rigging/signaling of trucks and equipment, flagging/traffic control, tending, general site cleanup, and concrete to laying of storm sewers, sanitary and water mains, trenching, digging of ditches, backfilling, setting of guardrails, underpinning, shoring and lagging. Members also do tunnel and shaft construction, tamping, dewatering, running pavement breakers, drilling and blasting, waterproofing, fire watch and confined space entry watch, as well as demolition associated with heavy and highway work.

Historic Federal Investment in Transportation

The Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, also known as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 (IIJA), makes the single largest investment in roads and bridges since the construction of the interstate highway system - and - the largest investment to transit infrastructure in American history.

Federal investment alone includes:

• New funds for roads, bridges, and major projects - $110 billion, in addition to the reauthorization of the surface transportation program for the next five years
• Investment for major projects ($16 billion) and new funding for bridge repair, replacement, and rehabilitation ($40 billion)
• New investment to modernize transit, and improve accessibility for the elderly and people with disabilities - $39 billion, in addition to continuing the existing transit programs for five years as part of surface transportation reauthorization
• Funds to reconnect communities by removing, retrofitting, or mitigating transportation facilities such as highways and rail lines that create barriers to community connectivity - $500 million
• Investment in rail to eliminate the maintenance backlog, modernize and expand world-class rail service to the nation - $66 billion
• Build out of a national network of EV chargers - $7.5 billion

Labor Standards for New Transportation Infrastructure Investment Will Ensure Good Jobs

The labor standards included in these historic transportation investments will ensure that the new construction jobs created will be good family-supporting jobs that build strong communities. Projects benefiting from discretionary grants will be given a preference for investment based on strong labor standards including the use of registered apprenticeship, measures to prevent employee misclassification, the use of project labor agreements, the free and fair choice to join a union, and local hire provisions.