“The old playbook isn’t working anymore, so we must build a new one: a fighting movement of workers united by 21^st century solidarity”

July 28, 2026 — The Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) and the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) issued the following statement after signing a Memorandum of Understanding outlining their historic industry-wide collaboration.

IUPAT and LIUNA stand as two pillars of the North American labor movement, each with proud histories of building nations and strengthening working class power. We recognize the challenges we face today, including aggressive anti-union legislation, corporate consolidation and technological disruption. Workers deserve more power. To get it requires 21^st century solidarity.

 

Our two unions are bound by an unwavering belief that every worker deserves a family-sustaining wage, a secure retirement, world-class healthcare, and a safe workplace free of exploitation. We believe this is attainable if we harness our unions’ collective strength to build more power for working people.

 

With LIUNA’s dominance in the infrastructure and energy sectors and IUPAT’s expertise in the construction finishing trades, we aim to create a formidable force capable of setting higher industry standards and prosperity for our members and for all workers in our industry sectors.

 

LIUNA and IUPAT commit to:

 

- Joint organizing efforts to help workers who do not have a union win the superior wages, benefits and working conditions that come with a union.

 

- Recognizing that our competitiveness and the competitiveness of union contractors requires a highly-trained, safe and efficient workforce that delivers projects on time and on budget.

 

- Unifying communications to amplify the voice of workers, reach a broader audience and counter anti-union propaganda.

 

- Recruiting new members that ensure our unions reflect our communities across the United States and Canada.

 

- Aligning contract expiration dates and bargaining priorities to increase workers’ leverage at the bargaining table.

 

- Directing that our pension fund investments be used in the interest of our members and refusing to place members’ pension funds in investments that work against unions.

 

- Coordinating lobby efforts to push for pro-labor legislation and jobs-creating funding, and pooling resources for political action committees and political mobilization.

The construction industry has adopted a model to exploit workers and divide unions. The old playbook isn’t working anymore, so we must build a new one: a fighting movement of workers united by 21^st century solidarity.

Our collaboration is a growth strategy for IUPAT and LIUNA. We seek to aggressively expand union market share and grow our membership by reaching unorganized workers with a compelling, unified message of a better, more secure way of life.

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The half-million members of LIUNA – the Laborers’ International Union of North America – are on the forefront of the construction industry, a powerhouse of workers who are proud to build the U.S. and Canada. Learn more about the largest union of finishing trades workers, the 140,000-member International Union of Painters and Allied Trades, at www.iupat.org.