A Union Plan for Financing Construction - NYT

A Union Plan for Financing Construction
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE - NYT
Published: June 29, 2011

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The A.F.L.-C.I.O. said it would announce on Wednesday that it intends to work with pension fund managers to ensure that at least $10 billion in union pension money is made available in the next five years to finance infrastructure projects. Richard L. Trumka, president of the labor federation, will present the plan at a meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative in Chicago as part of organized labor’s effort to get the federal government, banks and money managers to do more to issue bonds or create other mechanisms to finance infrastructure projects.

A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials said they planned to work with Deutsche Bank and other financial institutions in the hope of coming up with hundreds of millions of dollars to retrofit large commercial buildings. Many building owners are hesitating to do such retrofits because they are highly leveraged and do not have the cash to make the investments. The A.F.L.-C.I.O. hopes its $10 billion will provide an incentive for banks and hedge funds to develop financing vehicles to make such projects happen.

“America’s construction workers need work and want to work,” Mr. Trumka will say, according to his prepared remarks, noting that unemployment is 16 percent in the industry. “Never in modern times has so much construction work needed to be done.”

A.F.L.-C.I.O. officials said they also hoped their plan would help persuade Congress to create a National Infrastructure Bank or a program similar to the expired Build America Bonds program, in which the federal government subsidized bonds issued by states and municipalities to finance bridges, airports or other infrastructure. While labor unions and many Democrats support such measures to create jobs, many Republicans oppose them because they will increase federal spending.

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More: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/29/business/29labor.html

:kick:

They won't spend their cash reserves in order to deny Obama a re-election. Some much for caring for America.

We have a pool of 60-70MM voters. Seems like we could finance our own health insurance plan. I'd happily contribute to a plan that promotes real healthcare for Americans. I'm paying $1200.00/month now for a private health insurance which is incentivized to limit their payouts. This alone could drive millions of new voters into the Democratic column.