Updates & Articles

BAC Executive Council Focus on Changing Labor Markets
October - November 2001

Dr. Juan Andrade, President of the U.S. Hispanic Leadership Institute, addresses the BAC Executive Council in September.

The face of labor is changing. The number of women and Hispanics entering the workforce is growing steadily. At its September meeting, the Executive Council began to take a look at the impact these and other labor-force trends will have on the Union and our industry.

“This is one of the critical areas that was identified through our work on the Millennium Morning Project. The more we know and understand about the new entrants to our industry, the better positioned we’ll be to organize and address our members’ needs today and in the years ahead,” said President John J. Flynn.

Members of the BAC Executive Council investigate basic masonry training at the Naval Construction Training Center (NCTC) in Gulfport, MS during a half-day tour of the facility, in connection with the Council’s September meeting.

First Stop—Naval Construction Training Center

The military is one important source of workers either entering or re-entering the labor market. Every year, the military trains personnel in masonry and other construction crafts to fill its construction needs, and every month, dozens of men and women with these specific skills leave the military looking for long-term employment.

“Military personnel entering the civilian workforce are a rich potential source of future BAC craftworkers,” Flynn told the Council. Of the 275,000 men and women who leave military service each year, 90% are high school graduates, 70% have completed one term of enlistment, they are in their early to mid-twenties, and are looking for long-term careers in the civilian sector. “If we develop a relationship with them before they enter the civilian workforce, we stand a good chance of organizing them into the Union while eliminating a possible source of workers for non-union contractors,” he added. BAC and IMI are currently developing a pilot program to recruit exiting Navy personnel into the BAC crafts.

Rep. Ronnie Shows (D-MS), center, with BAC President John Flynn and Secretary-Treasurer Jim Boland. Shows spoke to the Council on the challenges facing pro-labor candidates in the Southeast.

Reaching Out to the Hispanic Community

The military is not the only source for new members and craftworkers. Current demographic trends indicate that the Hispanic community is playing a growing role in our industry.

“The complexion of the labor force is changing and will continue to change in the future,” Dr. Juan Andrade, President of the United States Hispanic Leadership Institute told the Council. “Between 1990 and 2000, the Hispanic population in the United States grew by 58%. This trend has positive implications for the labor movement and unions such as BAC,” Andrade said. “Latinos are supportive of labor issues and candidates that support workers’ rights,” says Andrade. “In fact, they get out to vote at a greater rate than the population as a whole.”

“The more we know and understand about the new entrants to our industry, the better positioned we’ll be to organize and address our members’ needs today and in the years ahead.” — President John J. Flynn

Andrade told the Council that the labor movement should “embrace, not reject” this important segment of the workforce. “We tend to think of ourselves as being part of a ‘melting pot,’ but we should think of ourselves as part of a bowl of vegetable soup,” said Andrade. “You know how you eat that bowl of soup when you have a cold? And you look at that soup, the carrot never loses its color, it never loses its texture . . . and neither does the corn, neither do the peas—none of the ingredients in a bowl of soup look like the others, they all look like themselves, and they blend together very well to make a good soup, that’s good for you, and good for your cold.”