Ad campaign calls for action on highway bill (Pit & Quarr)
As President Obama prepared to hold a national jobs summit on Dec. 3, 28 national associations and labor groups of the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) launched a new multi-media ad campaign calling on Congress and the administration to create thousands of long-term, sustainable American jobs by passing a new six-year highway/transit authorization bill. The current investment law – the Safe, Accountable, Flexible Transportation Equity Act-A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) – expired on Sept. 30.
The TCC ran 60-second radio ads on Washington, D.C., news talk station WTOP, highlighting that construction industry unemployment is twice the national average. A companion Internet ad was being produced for online placement. “Transportation investment creates jobs, gets America moving again and helps lay the road to economic recovery. Tell Congress to pass the six-year highway and transit program bill now,” the ads proclaim.
A “Jobs Check List” print ad also ran in the The Washington Post Federal Page. Over the past few weeks, the ad, which was also developed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Public Transportation Association, has been appearing in widely read Capitol Hill publications such as Roll Call, National Journal, Congress Daily, Congressional Quarterly and Politico.
The transportation design and construction industry has been hard hit by the recession. While the economic stimulus law likely saved thousands of construction-related jobs in 2009, it was not enough to prevent widespread layoffs among road and transit construction business. The outlook for next year is bleak, too, absent congressional action, TCC says. According to a recent nationwide survey of more than 500 highway and transit contractors, 44 percent anticipate having to lay off additional permanent employees in 2010 because of overall economic conditions.
Dec 7, 2009
