“After almost four years of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ anti-competitive, inflationary and divisive policies undermining taxpayer investments in America’s infrastructure, ABC is looking forward to working with a President who is willing to welcome all of the US construction industry to rebuild America,” wrote ABC President and CEO Michael D. Bellaman and 2024 Chair of the ABC National Board of Directors Buddy Henley, owner and president, Henley Construction Co. Inc., Gaithersburg, Maryland, in a letter to the campaign.
“With a skilled labour shortage of more than half a million people in 2024, construction materials prices up 32% since President Biden took office and a politically expedient regulatory regime undercutting the construction industry’s ability to deliver the infrastructure America deserves, now is the time for experienced and strong Trump leadership,” wrote Bellaman and Henley.
“For too long, the Biden/Harris administration’s policies have locked out nearly 90% of the construction workforce—that’s more than 7.3 million workers—simply because they have chosen not to belong to a union. The needless exclusion of qualified small and diverse businesses––and their hardworking employees––from building taxpayer-funded construction projects because they are not affiliated with unions must come to an end. If America is serious about building quality infrastructure with both union and nonunion craft professionals and contractors, this change is necessary, regardless of who the Democratic Party nominates for president.
“ABC looks forward to continuing our productive relationship with the future Trump administration in creating commonsense solutions, where we will work together to create the conditions for all Americans to prosper and achieve their career dreams by addressing issues critical to the merit shop construction industry, including:
- Rolling back exclusionary Biden/Harris administration regulations promoting and mandating project labour agreements on federal and federally assisted construction projects, which effectively lock out almost 9 out of 10 US construction workers from building taxpayer-funded projects because they are not members of unions.
- Providing construction industry small businesses with tax certainty and fairness.
- Enhancing an inclusive, all-of-the-above workforce development strategy where workers and employers have the freedom to choose the best way to develop the construction industry’s workforce through industry-recognised and government-registered apprenticeship programs that provide value as we build America’s people and projects.”
