On a day that recognizes workers of the past and present whose solidarity has shaped the labor movement, it is no coincidence that Labor Day celebrations bring people together. Whether you are enjoying a cookout with your family and friends or marching alongside your union family in a parade, the day unites the working men and women who are the backbone of our nation.

And it is LIUNA members who are building our nation. For 120 years, we haven’t backed away from the labor-intensive work that we do as laborers or backed down from the fight for better jobs.

Union construction jobs have paved the way to the middle class for thousands of workers, and this Labor Day, we have more construction jobs with union standards thanks largely to President Biden. Thousands of projects this year would not have been possible without President Biden and the historic increase in funding that he secured for our nation through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. President Biden’s Department of Labor also recently gave construction workers a raise by updating Davis-Bacon Prevailing Wage, something that hasn’t been done in 40 years.

These new opportunities though present some new challenges that we cannot ignore. Critical industries like construction find themselves in a labor shortage. To overcome this shortage, our nation must overcome the stigma that construction is a dead-end job. On the contrary, union construction jobs change lives. They welcome people of every race and gender, they offer ex-offenders a second chance and they give students who struggled in school a career path just as, if not more, profitable than college. Union apprenticeship programs continue to bring more people into the construction industry, and apprenticeship is the perfect place for you to learn a trade and provide for yourself and your family.

We must never forget that today is as much about commitment as it is celebration. We salute all of the hard-working men and women across the Mid-Atlantic Region and wish them an enjoyable day. However, our nation must commit this Labor Day to a renewed appreciation and respect for one of the most labor-intensive jobs in this country: construction. Only then will we be able to build infrastructure while building more middle-class lives in the years ahead.