LIUNA members spoke and the Department of Labor (DOL) listened. In our print newsletter, we alerted you to the pending decision regarding Industry Recognized Apprenticeship Programs or IRAPs in the construction industry. As you may recall, IRAPs in the construction industry would be devastating to LIUNA, its contractors, and local communities. The passage of IRAPs would allow low-skilled workers to be permitted on construction projects, thus cutting wages for all workers.
In March, the DOL issued its final rule on IRAPs and to exclude the construction industry from the IRAP recognition program. Your support and time you took to submit a comment on the DOL’s website factored into us receiving a favorable decision. LIUNA members alone submitted over 88,000 comments.. It is now clear that our apprenticeship program is the gold standard with cutting-edge training and the most advanced curriculum.
Once again, we believe that without your efforts we would not be able to share this great news. And though we won this battle – remain engaged with your Local as future dangers will undoubtedly test our great Union. We hope that you see this as another example of the incredible power we have when we come together.