WU Celebrates Passage of Made in America PPE Act as part of $1 T Infrastructure package
It’s a crucial step forward to serve our national security interests, ensuring that in the event of another crisis, we’ll have the safe products we need for our workers.— Lynne Fox International President, Workers United
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Dawn Ang
November 6, 2021 Email: dawn.ang@workers-united.org
Workers United Celebrates Passage of Made in America PPE Act as part of $1T Infrastructure Package
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Workers United, the country’s largest apparel workers union, is celebrating the passage of the Made in America PPE Act included in the $1T Infrastructure package that passed 228-206 just before midnight on November 5th.
The Made in America PPE Act sets a new standard for federal procurement of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – all PPE purchased by our federal government will need to be produced in the United States using domestic materials.
“Last night, Congress joined a bipartisan level of support in the Senate which had passed this act twice earlier this year. Now, all federally procured PPE will have strong domestic content and production standards, which creates a stable market for responsible companies to serve, creating good jobs making safe products for frontline workers,” said Workers United International President Lynne Fox.
Workers United leadership worked with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY), Senator Gary Peters (D-MI), Senator Rob Portman (R-OH) and Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-NJ) throughout this process and is grateful for their leadership in this effort
“Our 86,000 members and the responsible companies they work for salute the Members of Congress who passed a package last night that will help rebuild the domestic supply chain for PPE. In the worst days of the COVID 19 pandemic, these workers and companies stepped up with partners in the domestic textile industry to quickly design, produce, and deliver millions of gowns, masks, and plastic face shields for our health care and other frontline workers. We will never forget the searing image of what the breakdown of global supply chains looks like- health care workers in garbage bags working long shifts with no adequate protections. We knew then that we had to do something to make sure our country would protect these workers in the future,” Fox said.
“Our members at participating companies have been honored to be part of the solution, and have already made tens of millions of masks for federal government orders created by the American Rescue Act passed earlier this year. Now we know that when taxpayers’ funds are used, we’ll have real standards that help re-shore good jobs. It’s a crucial step forward to serve our national security interests, ensuring that in the event of another crisis, we’ll have the safe products we need for our workers. We want to thank companies like Ferrara Manufacturing, Unionwear, W. Diamond Co., Hickey Freeman, Martin Greenfield Tailors, the Individualized Apparel Group, American Roots, and union allies at SEIU, the USW, and especially the National Council of Textile Organizations for their partnership in this effort," Fox added.
ABOUT WORKERS UNITED
Workers United is affiliated with SEIU, representing 86,000 apparel, laundry, food service, warehouse distribution and manufacturing workers in the U.S. and Canada. Workers United is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA.
