In his State of the State Address, Gov. Spencer Cox told Utahns that “we must build”. As a proud member of the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 140 (UA), and as someone who’s spent over a decade building the infrastructure on which our communities rely, I couldn’t agree more with our governor.
Utah is filled with hard workers, families and grit. For Utah to build, we need to invest in the people and the businesses who do the building.
I grew up in Davis County. When I was just starting out in the trades out of high school, I landed a gig with the City of Roy Public Works Department. The work was stable, and I was grateful for the full-time employment and benefits — even though they came out of my paycheck. Still, after working with the city for four years, and taking another job at night to get by, I couldn’t get a raise and had limited power to negotiate my pay — a problem that would be made worse by HB267, a bill in the Legislature that will effectively eliminate public employees’ collective voice in their workplaces.
Hoping for higher wages and better benefits, I ended up shifting to a building maintenance job in Davis County, though I was still working a second job at night. I was one of the county’s all-around handymen. If a pipe burst in the building, a light went out or a sprinkler wasn’t working, my team and I were there to fix it. We were capable and highly trained, but we still received low wages and were unable to reach goals like buying our first home or supporting our families. At this point in my life, I was newly married and struggling to make ends meet. Like many Utahns, we wanted to start our family.
Public workers are critical to Utah’s thriving economy but, for me, the job couldn’t support me or a family.
When I joined the UA Local 140′s apprenticeship program, our family grew stronger. We had our first of three daughters two years into my apprenticeship program. A few years later, I completed my apprenticeship and, a semester later, gave back to my union by teaching welding to apprentices.
This kind of workforce development strategy is based on two things that the Union depends on: a good wage and a strong community — both of which can also help make Utah, and Utah’s workers, great. Without the union, I wouldn’t have been able to realize my dream of building.
So, Gov. Cox and members of the Utah Legislature, here’s one plumber’s blueprint for building Utah:
Stop the attacks on Utah’s workers and our voice. Our public employees build in communities around Utah every day, I know from my time working for the city and county. These workers are builders, and bills like HB267, which undermines the collective voice of workers in the workplace, make it harder — not easier — to build big things in our state.
Invest in Utah’s businesses and workers by restoring our state’s prevailing wage law. Utah repealed its prevailing wage law in 1981, causing a decline in construction wages and forcing local contractors and construction workers out of the market and the industry. Participation in apprenticeship programs also declined, which resulted in worker shortages that we’ve never recovered from. Prevailing wage levels the playing field, protects Utah contractors from being undercut, and encourages Utah contractors to invest in worker apprenticeship programs, which is the best way to strengthen the next generation of Utah’s builders. Today, 95% of Utah’s general contractors report difficulty filling hourly craft and salaried positions — a major challenge if we are to build. A prevailing wage is proven to reduce staffing shortages in the construction sector by attracting more workers into apprenticeships and ensuring construction sector wages support Utah families like mine.
Stand-up to unlawful cuts to Utah’s infrastructure funds. The White House recently attempted to unlawfully cut funding for Utah’s infrastructure. If we’re serious about building, this is not the time to play politics with these funds — our businesses and workers rely on the certainty that we are a state that builds, not a state that cuts. As a hardworking taxpayer employed in a construction trade, I see how the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and Inflation Reduction Act are delivering critical investments to Utah’s energy, water and transportation infrastructure that are decades overdue. To date, nearly $7.5 billion in our taxes have come back to Utah in the form of roads, bridges, transmission lines and water pipes our communities rely on.
We have a generational opportunity to help achieve the governor’s vision by investing in builders. By working together to support the Utahns who are building across our state every day, we can build the American Dream, the Utah way.
(Cody Weaver) Cody Weaver is the organizer for the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 140 (UA).
Cody Weaver is the organizer for the United Association of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 140 (UA) and currently resides with his family in Syracuse. He is an active member of United Today; Stronger Tomorrow’s Good Jobs and Community Priorities Steering Committee; and a board member of Utah Women in the Trades.
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