On May 7, the IBEW hosted senior Biden-Harris administration officials, Members of Congress, several unions, Germany-based conglomerate Siemens, and IG Metall – a German union representing Siemens. The leaders met at IBEW headquarters in Washington D.C. to discuss increasing high quality employment at Siemens plants.
The pro-labor Members of Congress who attended the meet and greet included Representatives Debbie Dingell and Donald Norcross, as well as congressional staff from the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, and House Education and Workforce Committees.*
The keynote was delivered by Brendan Danaher, Deputy Assistant to President Biden, followed by a panel moderated by Austin Keyser, assistant to the IBEW president. The panel, which included high-level officials like Federal Railroad Administrator Amit Bose, focused on the trillions of dollars in Biden-Harris Investing in America agenda. The administration-supported laws aim to bring back U.S. manufacturing, rebuild the nation’s infrastructure, and transition to a lower-carbon economy.
Siemens, whose U.S. manufacturing and technical service units employ over 900 IBEW members, is growing its footprint in the U.S. after receiving funding from the Biden-Harris infrastructure and energy agenda. The company has already begun major expansions at IBEW-represented manufacturing plants in Pomona, CA and Grand Prairie, TX, bringing in hundreds of additional IBEW-represented employees at these facilities.
Siemens was also recently selected by Brightline West to build passenger cars for the new high-speed rail project linking Nevada and California – another project made possible by the Biden-Harris administration’s new infrastructure laws. Brightline West will receive $3 billion in federal funding for the rail project, which will create 35,000 construction jobs and 1,000 permanent positions when completed in 2028. The railroad is projected to carry 8 million passengers a year between Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
IBEW’s presence in high-speed rail, clean transportation, renewable energy manufacturing, industrial decarbonization, and critical minerals mining makes it a natural fit for Siemens, said Keyser at the close of the successful meeting.
The Federal Railroad Administration celebrated the meeting in the statement it posted about the event: “Today, FRA Administrator Amit Bose met with several labor unions & Siemens, where he talked about ongoing efforts to expand passenger rail in America & highlighted how investments in the President’s infrastructure package are benefiting workers & the economy.”
“There is a tremendous opportunity to work together given this administration’s groundbreaking policies,” said Keyser, adding that the unions in the room represent the most skilled workforces in the world.
*Other attendees included Representatives Chuy Garcia, Darren Soto, Val Hoyle, Chris Deluzio, Office of Management and Budget Made in America Director Livia Shmavonian, and Department of Energy’s Good Jobs & Labor Standards Lead Zoe Lipman.
