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Julie Su at City Hall on Aug. 14, 2024. Photo by Sophie Bolich.
President Joe Biden‘s Bipartisan Infrastructure Law will play a key role in the effort to grow Milwaukee’s population to 1 million, said Mayor Cavalier Johnson during a press conference Wednesday afternoon.
Johnson, accompanied by Acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su, Oak Creek Mayor Dan Bukiewicz and Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development Amy Pechacek, appeared at City Hall to tout the administration’s role in uplifting trades workers, supporting unions and funding initiatives to bring well-paid jobs to Wisconsin.
“When workers have good jobs, our economy is stronger, families have hope and our neighborhoods are then safer,” Johnson said. “That encourages more development, encourages more investment — more spending — in those neighborhoods, making them more attractive, making the city overall more attractive, to help grow Milwaukee.”
He went on to praise the Biden-Harris administration’s infrastructure investments across the state and the Good Jobs Initiative, led by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The two projects go hand-in-hand, delivering funds and employing individuals to complete $6.9 billion in infrastructure and clean energy efforts, including “boots on the ground work” such as replacing lead service lines across Milwaukee.
“We need trained individuals for that work,” Johnson said.
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Johnson passed the podium to Dwayne Simpson and Carshella Porter, both graduates of WRTP/BIG STEP, a training program for skilled trades jobs.
“Without that program, I wouldn’t be the Dwayne Simpson here today, I would say, because I was going on a different path,” Simpson said, noting that he was recruited out of high school “That program introduced me to things I never saw.”
Porter said the program was an important stepping stone, providing her with the necessary training and experience to land a job at a “major company.”
Su emphasized that, while beneficial to individuals, Good Jobs Initiative “is about entire families, entire communities, and about building intergenerational wealth.”
“Those are the things that happen when there’s a good job, and we want to make sure that every single person in Milwaukee and every single person in Wisconsin can get a good job,” she said.
Su, a Madison native, said she’s “all-in on job creation” — and increased accessibility to those jobs — in her home state.
“For too long, some communities have not been able to get good jobs … not because they didn’t want to work, not because they didn’t have the talent and the drive the hunger, not because they didn’t have the ability, but because we haven’t built the roads and bridges that connect people to the good jobs they want and need,” she said.
Bukiewicz reiterated the Biden-Harris administration’s commitment to creating good jobs in the community, but said there’s still more work to do.
“The administration has set the menu and set the table,” he said. “Now what we need to do is invite the guests, and those guests are the men and women looking for careers in the trades through free apprenticeship and registered apprenticeship.”
Pechacek highlighted a record-breaking era for Wisconsin’s economic and workforce performance, as that state saw a record high in both unemployment and jobs in June.
Apprenticeships have also gotten a boost, with the state’s Registered Apprenticeship Program enjoying a record-breaking year in 2023.
The combined local and national efforts, Pechacek said, are “strengthening the middle class and keeping the American dream alive.”
The effect of initiatives such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law,American Rescue Plan, CHIPS and Science Act and Inflation Reduction Act have been a subject of frequent praise from visiting officials in Milwaukee.
The Biden-Harris administration named Milwaukee as a designated Workforce Hub in April.
Su’s visit to Milwaukee was part of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Good Jobs Summer tour. Prior to her appearance at City Hall, the acting secretary participated in a roundtable discussion at a aggregates mine in Franklin.
Joined by Chris Williamson, Assistant Secretary for Mine Safety and Health, Su spoke with members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 and joined quarry workers for a roundtable discussion focused on Microsoft‘s $3.3 billion investment to establish a data center in Mount Pleasant.
The project is expected to create 2,000 jobs, according to the company and state officials, and increase demand for aggregate materials.
After the press conference concluded, Su and Johnson held a private discussion with leaders of the building trades and workforce training experts to discuss strategies for engaging with Milwaukee residents and connecting workers with career opportunities.
Su is the fifth member of Biden’s cabinet to visit Milwaukee in the past two weeks. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited the port and road an Amtrak Hiawatha train, Attorney General Merrick Garland participated in a public safety event at the U.S. Federal Courthouse, Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm promoted a home energy efficiency program and acting Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Adrianne Todman toured a military-family housing development and met with local housing officials.
Su has served as labor secretary since the March 2023 resignation of Marty Walsh, who visited Milwaukee several times during his two-year tenure.
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