Updates & Articles

‘Back to School’ for Local Leaders Translates into ‘Moving Forward’
October - November 2004

It was “back to school” for nearly 300 BAC Local Union officers and field representatives who attended the International Union’s 29th BAC Local Leadership Conference held in August at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana. BAC President John J. Flynn set the Conference’s tone and theme, “Moving Forward – Together,” at the opening session with a summary of the recently published Millennium Morning Project’s (MMP) report and recommendations, stressing its importance to the future of the Union.

Flynn also took the opportunity to assure attendees that the report did not propose restructuring at the Local Union level, but simply recommended reducing the Union’s regional structure from ten to five regions. “From the Local standpoint, the only changes you or your members should see,” Flynn said, “will be a better level of service from the IU because we’ll be able to use our existing staff more effectively and allow them to focus on the needs and issues that are unique to their assigned region.”

Chicago Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) said it’s a disgrace that “this Administration plans to build 2300 new schools in Iraq while eliminating 43 education programs here.”

During the next three days at workshops, demonstrations, and lectures, a number of MMP findings and recommendations were addressed including strategies for expanding market share, improving training, organizing, and neutralizing rising health care costs. Because of its importance to the masonry industry and prominence in the MMP report, particular attention was given to recapturing the residential market. Executive Council members Chuck Raso (BAC Region 1 Director/ Local 3 Massachusetts), Dennis Becker (Local 1 Washington), and Bob Fozio (Northern Ohio Administrative District Council) each led a required, discussion-based residential organizing workshop, assisted by IU Organizer Pat Zimick. The workshops focused on key issues identified in the MMP Report and by the new BAC Residential Task Force, held two days earlier. The Notre Dame discussions will provide valuable feedback to the Task Force in their efforts to develop pilot programs and best practices for BAC Locals already engaged in, or about to enter, the residential market.

BAC President John J. Flynn, left, with New York Times reporter and Conference guest speaker David Cay Johnston, whose latest book, Perfectly Legal, chronicles our troubled tax system and its enormous cost to working people.

In addition to MMP-related topics, the Conference focused on the November election. Describing America as a “tale of two economies,” U.S. Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-IL) noted that any benefits derived from the Bush’s “jobless” recovery “are not being driven down to the pay stubs of employees.” In fact, at a time when working families are reeling from record job losses and stagnant incomes, “corporate profits are up 87 percent,” he said. Emanuel also pointed to the Administration’s abysmal record on health care, education, and veterans’ benefits – citing deep program cuts in all these areas.

Gary Hammen, Grassroots Coordinator for the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership (TRCP) introduced many of the attendees to TRCP, a relatively new group that represents a network of organizations dedicated to preserving public lands for the use of hunters and anglers.

Comments and suggestions offered during the “Recapturing the Residential Market” workshops will be relayed to BAC’s new Residential Task Force.

Other industry and policy/political highlights included:

Raoul Cervantes, far right, responds to a question at the AAC tent.

Bob Humbertson demonstrates laying SEALTECH Reface Masonry Units.

• Architect-engineer Ron Fanning, CEO of Fanning-Howey, Inc., a leading elementary school design firm, discussed masonry’s role in helping schools weather increased physical demands brought on by multiple, round-the-clock activities at many schools, and maintenance costs that are attractive to taxpayers and school boards.

• IMI’s training and marketing staff helped showcase three new materials — AAC, SEALTECH, and Terratop by Mapei — at “IMI and New Products in Masonry,” one of several ‘required’ workshops. They featured live demonstrations, the latest marketing information on each product, and the key role BAC craftworker certification programs are playing in those efforts.

• In “How Does Your Apprenticeship Program Measure Up,?” another required workshop, IMI National Apprenticeship and Training Director Steve Martini pointed out the deficiencies of the Associated Builders and Contractors’ pseudo-training programs, and discussed ways for local JATCs to ensure that BAC programs maintain a competitive advantage.

The “IMI and New Products in Masonry” workshop highlighted recent training and marketing efforts, including craftworker certification programs, to secure work for BAC craftworkers in the use of Terratop, SEALTECH, and AAC. Conducted by IMI training and marketing personnel in adjacent tents, one for each product. Above, Dennis Studley, left, and Bob Mion demonstrate a Mapei Terratop installation.

• Professor Michele Mounayar, Associate Dean of the College of Architecture and Planning at Ball State University, outlined some of the many ways in which climatic and environmental factors impact design and selection of building materials, and the potential for masonry, particularly AAC, to gain a stronghold in this up and coming area based on the highly productive collaboration between BAC, IMI, and Ball State in the recent construction of its Eco-House.

• Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times investigative reporter David Cay Johnston gave a compelling talk on the corrosive impact of America’s inequitable tax policies and how the Administration’s policies have helped widen the income gap between the very rich and everyone else at the expense
of the middle class.

One of the top reasons Local leaders return to Notre Dame year after year is the opportunity to talk with others from different areas and backgrounds.

• Washington, D.C. professor and clinical psychiatrist Justin Frank, M.D., author of Bush on the Couch, offered an admittedly subjective – yet deeply unsettling – psychological profile of the 43rd president.

• Marketing expert Mike Vance, former Disney executive and advisor to Apple’s Steve Jobs, spoke about his experiences working alongside such visionary leaders, and the techniques he discovered along the way to help unlock and unleash creative energy on the job.

At the closing session, President Flynn congratulated Local leaders on their energetic and active involvement, adding “If we graded on participation, you’d all get straight A’s!”