Hollywood, Fla.
With unemployment levels at their highest in nearly a decade, workers are hurting as America’s anemic economy continues to sputter. Congress must respond by passing a real jobs bill, and the reauthorization of the landmark Transportation Equity Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21) presents lawmakers with exactly that opportunity. Unfortunately, the President’s FY 2004 budget sends a clear message that Congress, and not the administration, will need to take the lead to ensure that TEA-21 reauthorization legislation fully invests in our transportation system and creates the type and number of jobs so desperately needed.
The labor movement is deeply concerned with the early signals from the Bush Administration. Earlier this month, Mitch Daniels, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, issued a veto threat on the FY 2003 omnibus appropriations legislation that objected to, among other things, fully funding Amtrak and federal highway programs. Congress should not be deterred by these warnings and should move ahead with a multi-year TEA-21 bill that funds the nation’s growing surface transportation needs and supports real job creation. We are heartened by early signals from leading lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who are committed to completing this legislation in the 108th Congress.
Enacted in 1998, TEA-21 has invested more than $200 billion in highways, transit systems, bridges, intermodal terminals, safety enhancements, and bikeways and recreation. For transportation and construction workers and other employees in the private and public sectors, TEA-21 has been the foundation for an expansive pool of jobs in many skilled and specialized trades and crafts. Overall, the economy has benefited tremendously from TEA-21 as an estimated 9.4 million workers have secured good paying jobs that in today’s economy are becoming more and more scarce.
Furthermore, TEA-21 has greatly enhanced our transportation system, allowing people and goods to move more efficiently and safely. Because of TEA-21, Americans have more transportation options and barriers to travel and commerce are being torn down in all areas of the country. Annual funding increases have enabled communities with means to cope with unprecedented traffic congestion and rural and smaller communities have been better able to meet their mobility needs.
America’s shaky economy cannot afford a step backward in transportation spending. In an effort to secure additional resources, we support using the interest earned in the Highway Trust Fund for trust fund purposes. Furthermore, the 2.5 cents of the tax on ethanol that currently flows into the General Fund should be transferred into the Highway Trust Fund.
As we push for maximum funding levels, we will strongly support funding guarantees and budget “firewalls” that provide state and local officials the certainty they need to plan, finance and implement their programs. At the same time, the labor movement will make the case to lawmakers that the resources to finance the nation’s long-term surface transportation needs can be obtained without sacrificing the historic balance between highway and transit program needs or revising funding formulas and federal/state match requirements in ways that disadvantage certain states. We will also oppose proposals that have recently surfaced to use Mass Transit Account gas tax resources for highway purposes. We strongly believe that Congress should focus on the need for new resources to support increased investment in both highways and transit rather than fighting over allocation of existing revenues and in the process risking mass transit investments.
The labor movement will insist that TEA-21 legislation requires compliance with federal labor standards and worker protections that have always been a part of the program. Laws such as Section 13(c) and Davis-Bacon have been instrumental in maintaining labor-management cooperation, managing multi-billion transportation projects, protecting the collective bargaining rights of transit employees and ensuring job and wage stability for construction workers. The fact is that every major highway/transit reauthorization bill enacted in the last 50 years, including the 1998 TEA-21 legislation, has recognized the need to protect the interests and rights of employees. We will insist on nothing less in the 2003 legislation.
In pushing for increased funding, we recognize the expanding role of private investment in our transportation infrastructure and the desire to advance “innovative” finance mechanisms. However, new policies must not be designed or implemented in a way that results in selling off – through privatization and contracting out schemes – our surface transportation system at the expense of workers and services while producing suspect and largely unrealized “cost savings.” If Congress wants to improve productivity in an era of scarce resources, it should consider investments to better train workers in new technologies and related maintenance requirements. It should also provide long-term funding in career ladder and job skills programs designed to prepare workers for the surface transportation industry of the future.
We will also continue to scrutinize innovative finance proposals, such as the State Infrastructure Banks (SIBs) pilot program established in TEA-21. Transportation and financial industry interests are pushing to expand this program to all states and to grow the funds needed to implement them. We will insist that SIBs and any other financing innovations live up to their promise and honor longstanding worker rights and protections. Any transportation projects funded (directly to recipients or to subsequent generation recipients) by SIBs or other mechanisms that may be established, must comply with longstanding federal standards, especially those that protect the jobs and rights of workers.
The labor movement will also push for safety and security measures that reflect the reality of this industry and the nation in the wake of 9/11. This means Congress and the President must do everything possible to protect against the use of our transportation system to carry-out acts of brutal terror. First and foremost, we will oppose industry attempts to roll back or weaken federal safety requirements such as hours of service rules and hazmat worker protections. TEA-21 should mandate safety and security plans by transit systems and require transit formula grant recipients to spend adequate resources on serious security measures and worker training. Existing labor-management cooperation programs should also be continued and expanded. Intrastate commercial vans transporting nine or more passengers should be required to meet commercial drivers licensing and drug and alcohol testing requirements. And if, over our objections, cross-border truck and bus movements increase at the Mexican border, our government must ensure adequate resources for inspection personnel and facilities, and enforcement of U.S. laws and regulations.
The labor movement will support TEA-21 reauthorization legislation that:
- provides multi-year funding increases that meet the nation’s needs;
- mandates funding guarantees and budget "firewalls";
- restores the interest collected on the Highway and Mass Transit accounts to the Highway Trust Fund and transfers to the Highway Trust Fund the 2.5 cents of ethanol tax collected that currently flows into the General Fund;
- applies 13(c) collective bargaining rights and Davis-Bacon prevailing wage protections throughout all TEA-21 programs including innovative finance mechanisms such as State Infrastructure Banks;
- maintains the historic balance between highway and transit program funding levels;
- rejects federal requirements to force or encourage privatization;
- improves motor carrier and highway safety and security and rejects proposals to roll back safety standards and protections;
- invests in worker training programs;
- grants transportation worker representatives a mandatory voice and vote within Metropolitan Planning Organizations, or MPOs;
- raises transit tax-free benefits to the level allowed for parking benefits; and
- invests in transportation research programs by increasing funding for University Transportation Centers.
THEREFORE, be it resolved that the AFL-CIO and its affiliates will:
- Advance a unified TEA-21 agenda embodied in this policy resolution before the key Senate and House authorizing committees;
- Push the Bush Administration to support TEA-21 reauthorization that funds the nation’s surface transportation needs, honors workers’ bargaining and prevailing wage protections, enhances motor carrier and highway safety and security, and rejects ill advised privatization initiatives;
- Activate transportation workers nationwide to speak out on this critical jobs bill.