By Jane Calderwood
James P. Hoffa, General President of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, called on the US Senate to pass the FAA Reauthorization bill today. He stated that “one of the things the FAA bill does is help pay for airport construction” and airport construction, as we all know, equals jobs. Hoffa estimates the bill will provide 125,000 jobs a year.
Pointing out that the reauthorization effort has languished for three years; Hoffa noted that 35 Senators from both parties signed a letter in November calling for passage of the bill. He also makes the point that while three months have passed since then without any action on the bill, we are now three months closer to the start of the construction season.
The Teamsters’ aren’t the only union to press the Senate on the FAA bill this week. Ed Wytkind, President of the Transportation Trades Department (TTD) of the AFL-CIO, told Senators on Wednesday at a meeting of the Democratic Steering Committee focused on transportation infrastructure, that while the Senate needed to move quickly on its jobs bill because there was “$70 billion worth of jobs projects ready to go,” they also needed to pass the FAA Reauthorization bill because it is “another jobs bill.”
As Hoffa explains it, the lack of action on the Senate’s part means, “It isn’t just the bill that will languish – its’ 125,000 people who need jobs.” Let’s hope the Senate gets the message.