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Terry O’Sullivan became the tenth General President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) on January 1, 2000, and is dedicated to growing his union’s membership and market share. 

In 2011, O’Sullivan led delegates at the union’s 24^th International Convention to pass a resolution that significantly increased LIUNA members’ investment in political action.  The resolution has raised more than $10 million per election cycle to ensure that elected officials hear the voices of LIUNA members in the halls of Congress, and “Feel the Power” of LIUNA at the ballot box.  The union’s PAC has raised its profile, and is now one of the top PACs in the country, working to help elect politicians who support issues of importance to the proud men and women of LIUNA.

Terry O’Sullivan and LIUNA have taken leading roles in pushing for comprehensive immigration reform, long-term highway funding, fair contracting, pension reform, fair postal reform, and many other issues of importance to LIUNA members and their families.  O’Sullivan is an outspoken and unapologetic advocate for a diverse, realistic, all-of-the-above energy policy that meets North America’s energy needs safely and responsibly.

We’re Sick of Waiting for Washington
…the Highway Bill, from our view, has always been a jobs bill and one of the largest jobs bills in the history of our country. I think the problem is that Washington and this Congress is politically paralyzed, particularly in the House, and across the board…everyone’s afraid and nibbling around the edges about how you pay for it.

We Have Ideas—Now We Need Action
The question is, is the political will there to do it? Because we have resources…Here is a country as strong and as good and as proud as the United States of America. I’ve seen a lack of will of really trying to get our hands around how we repair our crumbling transportation infrastructure in this country.

Washington Is Afraid to Talk About Infrastructure
I think the American public, if you have a grown-up, adult conversation with them, they get that you want to have better infrastructure, we’re going to have to figure out how to pay for it…I think the American public is willing, ready, and able to have that conversation. It’s been too many in Washington DC that have been licking their fingers and seeing which way the winds are blowing, that have been afraid to have that conversation.

LIUNA Is Working Together for Change
We can’t repair our transportation infrastructure with having short-term extensions. This is no way to improve our crumbling infrastructure in this country…I know we’re going to keep beating the drums, and we’re going to be out there doing everything we can to keep our members engaged, and our community partners as well.

Download full transcript (PDF): Terry O’Sullivan on The Infra Blog

Tags: Gas tax, Highway Trust Fund, Laborers' International Union of North America, LIUNA, Terry O'Sullivan

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 30th, 2015 at 11:56 am and is filed under Aging Infrastructure, Employment, Funding, Guests on The Infra Blog, Highway, Jobs, National, Policy, Tax, The Infra Blog . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.