LIUNA Releases New TV Ad Highlighting the Need to Build America So America Works

Business Wire,  June 25, 2008  

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Part of Construction Union's Effort to Redirect America's Resources to Basic Priorities that Working People Depend on Every Day

To View the Ad, Go to www.LiunaBuildsAmerica.org/ads

WASHINGTON -- LIUNA - the Laborers' International Union of North America - this week released a new television ad highlighting the need to build America, create good jobs and take care of the nation's basic foundation that working people depend on every day.

The ad is an important part of LIUNA's Build America So America Works campaign, the union's most intensive and sustained effort ever to redirect the nation's resources to taking care of America's basics - its roadways, bridges, dams, railways, schoolhouses and other fundamentals which have fallen into decay, lowering quality of life and weakening our economy.

The ad is initially airing on CNN and MSNBC in the Washington, D.C. metro area, targeting elected officials and opinion leaders.

With inspiring images of each generation doing its part to build America, the ad notes that "in America, we have always known how to build." However, an image of the Minnesota I-35 Bridge collapse is a powerful reminder that America's basics have severely deteriorated due to years of neglect.

"America was the first country to land a man on the moon, we laid claim to the tallest buildings, built the Golden Gate Bridge and the Hoover Dam, won the Cold War and became the beacon of hope and promise around the globe," said Terence M. O'Sullivan, LIUNA General President. "Sadly, Americans can no longer be assured of safely crossing the Mississippi River. We can build America so America works again if we unite around a new vision of taking care of our nation and redirecting resources to basic priorities."

The American Society of Civil Engineers gives our infrastructure a "D" grade and estimates that the investment now needed to bring the country back to acceptable condition is $1.6 trillion - and rising because of inflation and continuing deterioration.

Nearly a year after the I-35W bridge collapse, an estimated 150,000 bridges across America remain structurally deficient. Nearly three years after unsafe levees flooded New Orleans killing 1,836 people and dislocating hundreds of thousands more, 3,300 dams and 150 levees across America continue to be unsafe. Due to delay and neglect, the cost to fix dilapidated and overcrowded schoolhouses has doubled over the last 10 years.

"Instead of the band-aid fixes and patch work solutions that make up our current failed approach, we need a bold vision to take care of America's basics," O'Sullivan said.

The state of America's infrastructure disproportionately impacts working people. A typical commuter wastes more than $400 a year in gas due to an under-capacity and failing highway system. That is in addition to the countless hours that are lost to time spent in traffic - precious time that working parents would rather spend with their families.

LIUNA's ad asks viewers to sign the Petition to Build America and "tell Congress that now is the time to build America, so America works."

In addition to the new television ad, Build America so America Works also includes other ongoing targeted outreach through print, online, outdoor and radio ads, the new website www.LiunaBuildsAmerica.org and membership mobilization such as Make a Call to Build America, a series of member-to-member phone-banking nights aimed at increasing the union's army of registered voters.

The half-million members of LIUNA are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of 10 million workers who build America.

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