Build Back Better agenda lifts workers up

The Build Back Better agenda means billions of dollars will be invested in Nevada’s jobs, families and communities — to make life a little easier, to help our families thrive and to rebuild a fair path forward for everyone coming out of this pandemic in our state, which was one of the hardest hit by COVID-19.

In Nevada, we are fortunate to have Reps. Dina Titus, Steven Horsford, and Susie Lee, and Sens. Catherine Cortez Masto and Jacky Rosen to support this groundbreaking agenda. Working people in Nevada need their colleagues in Congress to join them and vote to pass these bills as soon as possible.

The Build Back Better agenda has two key components: the already-passed Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Build Back Better Act.

The infrastructure bill is transformative in that it invests in roads, bridges, transit, rail, climate change mitigation, electric vehicles, clean drinking water, high-speed internet, resilient transmission lines, and more that will create good-paying union jobs. Every dollar invested in our country’s infrastructure is an opportunity to put people to work in union jobs that will give them higher pay, better benefits, and a louder voice in the workplace than their non-union counterparts. We’re so grateful that our Democratic leaders in Congress voted to pass this legislation and that it was signed into law last week.

The state of our infrastructure also does not just affect Nevadans, but also our visitors and the valuable dollars they bring into our state every day — dollars that allow our state to continue to grow, invest in new construction projects, and put Nevadans to work. 

President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better Act is another investment in working people, good union jobs, health care and more. It includes a variety of benefits for working families, including 12 weeks of universal paid leave and investments in job training, and reduces prescription drug costs. It will also, as it currently stands, enshrine strict penalties for employers that retaliate against unionization efforts, including those who orchestrate mandatory anti-union meetings, misclassify their workers, and permanently replace striking workers.

This bill will bring down costs that have held back families in Nevada for decades by cutting taxes and making child care, home care, education, health care and housing more affordable. These investments will provide new learning opportunities for children, help parents — especially working parents — make ends meet, and position the economy for stronger growth for years to come. 

Nationwide, these bills will create millions of good-paying jobs, and in Nevada create thousands of opportunities in union apprenticeship programs. These opportunities will lead to jobs in high-paying skilled trades. These jobs with dignity lead to retirement with dignity. 

The Build Back Better Act will invest in expanding our registered apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeship programs to open up more of these opportunities to women, people of color, and others from underrepresented groups, and incentivize programs that focus on clean energy jobs. We can both create good-paying union jobs while addressing the impacts of climate change on our state.

Working people in Nevada have waited long enough. The bottom line is we need to pass both jobs bills. Trillions of dollars are at stake for working people. And the Build Back Better Act will cost working and middle-class families zero dollars.

The Build Back Better agenda will usher in an economy that rewards work, not wealth, by making the ultra-wealthy and corporations pay their fair share, cracking down on tax evasion, and closing loopholes. No one making under $400,000 pays a penny more in taxes, including 97% of small businesses.

The plan will lower costs for working families while creating long-term growth for our economy. Nevada’s labor movement fully supports both critical jobs bills, and it is urgent Congress passes them at once.

Nevada is union strong, and passing these bills will allow our labor movement to thrive and welcome new brothers and sisters who will see the union difference: better wages, better benefits, better working conditions, and the chance to retire with dignity.

This is the agenda that working people in Nevada voted for in the 2020 election. The White House and Congress cannot let this moment pass them by. Pass the Build Back Better Act.

Susie Martinez is the executive secretary-treasurer of the Nevada State AFL-CIO. She is also serving as the state assemblywoman for District 12. She is the first Latina and the first woman to lead the Nevada State AFL-CIO.