Service + Solidarity Spotlight: Pittsburgh’s Labor Movement Responds to Shocking Bridge Collapse

Working people across the United States have stepped up to help out our friends, neighbors and communities during these trying times. In our regular Service + Solidarity Spotlight series, we’ll showcase one of these stories every day. Here’s today’s story.

“Things like this should never happen in a country of ours.” That was the message from Allegheny/Fayette Central Labor Council President Darrin Kelly (IAFF), a Pittsburgh firefighter who was at the scene of the massive bridge collapse that left at least 10 people injured. “It’s just surreal to see this in our city,” he told WESA. “It underscores how important it is we realize that it’s everybody’s duty to protect each other and build a stable infrastructure.”

The major bridge collapsed around 6:39 a.m. ET, just hours before President Joe Biden planned to come to Pittsburgh to emphasize the immediate need to modernize our infrastructure by implementing the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Biden met with first responders at the site and surveyed the wreckage this afternoon. With 446 bridges in Pittsburgh, “we’re going to fix them all,” he promised. The recently enacted Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act will invest $40 billion in new bridge construction nationwide, including $1.6 billion to fix Pennsylvania’s bridges.