What is Project 2025?

If you’ve been following the 2024 Presidential Election, you’ve likely heard of Project 2025. This is a 900-page blueprint created by The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, that outlines a blueprint for policy changes for the next Republican President to implement. It seeks to impose radical policies and consolidate power, posing a severe threat to democratic norms and the carpenter’s way of life.

The Heritage Foundation has a history of pushing policies and laws that harm carpenters and threaten our union’s future, including the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), statewide so-called “Right-to-Work” laws, repealing of state-level prevailing wage laws, and the erosion of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA), which is the foundation of organized labor. What makes Project 2025 even more concerning is the involvement of former Trump officials in its creation, and the high-profile supporters of its ideas like Republican Vice-Presidential candidate J.D. Vance.

While the blueprint covers everything from the military to healthcare, its greatest threat to union carpenters is its aggressive anti-union stance. This is why it is critical for our members to understand the potential of the ripple effects that could occur if a President who may implement any of Project 2025’s policies is elected.

Project 2025’s Anti-Union Policies

Project 2025 outlines decertifying labor unions, making it easier to dissolve them, and targets workers’ ability to organize. It attacks workers’ rights in various ways, including replacing unemployment insurance with undefined privatized alternatives, that lack clarity on adequate benefits. It would also reclassify workers as independent contractors, denying them benefits, and making it harder to claim overtime pay. Furthermore, it aims to protect employers, not workers, by making it more difficult to hold them accountable for wages and benefits. On top of that, it proposes terminating multi-employer pension plans, threatening the union members’ retirement security.

The blueprint also has a strong focus on the repeal of the Davis-Bacon Act, which would eliminate prevailing wage standards and lead to lower pay for construction workers. It further pushes to weaken unions by calling for a National Right-to-Work Law, which would allow non-union workers to benefit from union contracts without paying dues. It even looks to hinder the next generation of carpenters through proposed Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs), which would threaten union apprenticeships with inferior, less regulated programs that weaken training and decrease worker quality.

Perhaps most alarming, Project 2025 is focused on diminishing workers’ health and safety standards. It calls for local and state governments to opt out of federal labor laws like the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), undermining unions by weakening standards, collective bargaining rights, and fair wages. The blueprint also proposes rule changes to NLRA to allow companies and workers to use Collective Bargaining Agreements (CBAs) to bypass federal worker protections like the FLSA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), eroding vital worker protections like overtime pay and safety standards.

What You Can Do

Project 2025 is not a wish list, —it could become a reality if former President Trump wins a second term. This is why it is essential for our union members to use the resources available to learn and understand the threat this blueprint from the Heritage Foundation poses to carpenters’ way of life and to vote for candidates this November who stand with unions and defend our rights.

To stay informed about Project 2025 and what you can do to help stop it, click here.