By Allan Jamail
Deer Park, TX. – February 18, 2020 — Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia toured the new, $4 million state-of-the-art Pipefitters Local 211 Apprentice School. While on the tour, Business Manager Bryan Edwards stopped briefly enough to present Garcia an award in recognition and appreciation for her long history of supporting and promoting organized labor.
Garcia’s district includes thousands of union jobs in the North Channel area and along and near the Houston Ship Channel. Local 211 have a couple thousand members in Garcia’s district as well. She has worked to secure union jobs first when she was as a County Commissioner, then Texas Senator, and now as a member of Congress. She believes organized labor gives workers a voice which allows them to report unsafe job conditions without fear of retaliation and provides a decent fair wage, with health benefits for the union member’s family and a respectable retirement pension.
Garcia said, “As someone who is one of ten children and grew up poor, I know the importance of a good paying job, and organized labor has historically stood up for working families and fought to ensure that they are treated with dignity and respect. That’s why I am such a strong supporter of organized labor.”
She advocates high school graduates to get a college education if possible, but for those who can’t for one reason or another, then a good trade union apprentice school can be a good alternative.
