Labor-Management Craft Committees Off to Flying
Start
Two out of six days of BAC’s February meetings were
devoted
to the first sessions of BAC’s new Labor-Management
Craft Committees.
Prior to August
2001, the BAC Craft Committees were comprised solely of
Union representatives, knowledgeable about their Committee’s
respective craft area. Last year, President John J. Flynn
announced the decision to reconstitute the Committees as
labor-management bodies by adding signatory contractors to
committee rosters. In doing so, Flynn cited the need for
labor and management to work together in order to address
specific industry concerns. Flynn also established an additional
Committee dedicated to brick and block issues, increasing
the number of Craft Committees to six — Tile/
Marble/Terrazzo, Brick and Block, Cement, Plaster, PCC,
and Stone. Last August at the BAC Local Leadership Conference,
Union and employer members met as working craft groups
to identify their craft’s most pressing issues, in
advance of the first formal meetings in February.
The February meetings
kicked off with a combined session for members of all Craft
Committees, chaired by President Flynn and International
Council of Employers (ICE) President Eugene George, followed
by individual Committee meetings the next day. Flynn explained
that the goal of the Labor-Management Craft Committees
was to develop a forum to address the unique concerns facing
each of our crafts in a constructive environment. He also
told the joint session that “the need for an
on-going dialogue between labor and management is more
important than ever. Although the unionized masonry industry
made great strides during the 1990’s construction
boom, we’re
now at a critical juncture. If we’re going to keep
up that momentum and continue to prosper, then we have
to work together to address the unique challenges facing
our crafts. Labor or management alone can't do it. We have
to work as partners.” Keynote speaker Col. Mike Mullane,
a retired space shuttle astronaut, spoke about the importance
of organizational teamwork to any successful mission.
At
the individual craft committee meetings that followed,
members heard from industry experts, and participated
in roundtable discussions that helped prioritize their crafts’ most
pressing concerns from a more comprehensive list developed
in August.
At the close of this first round of meetings,
ICE President Eugene George commented “the decision
to bring management into this process was well-timed. As
construction becomes increasingly specialized, we need new
ways to address industry developments, and Labor-Management
Craft Committees are a new and forceful way to do that.”
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| Retired space shuttle
astronaut Col. Mike Mullane, center, kicked off the first
meeting of the Labor Management Craft Committees. Mullane
is shown here with BAC President John J. Flynn, left,
and ICE President Eugene George, right. |
David Biggs, of Ryan-Biggs
Associates, updates the Committee on new developments
in the building codes that impact masonry construction.
From right, BAC Secretary-Treasurer Jim Boland, Biggs,
Local 21 IL President Pete Marinopoulos, IMI Training
Director Steve Martini, and MCAA President Bill McConnell. |
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| Members of the L-M
Stone Craft Committee hear from Jim Owens of the Indiana
Limestone Institute on current trends in the use of stone. |
Members of the TMT
Labor-Management Committee include, from left, Grace
Gebhardt of Venice Terrazzo and Tile Co., Inc. (Rockford,
IL), John DiVincenzo, Local 36 OH, and Vincent DeLazzero
of Port Morris Tile & Marble Corp. (Bronx, NY). |
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| Contractor Clark Seeley
of C & C Construction in Albany, New York raises
some of the key issues facing the plaster industry. |
An important element
of BAC’s efforts to standardize craft training
will be input from the L-M Craft Com-mittees. Members
of the Cement L-M Committee comment on developing a uniform
cement curriculum. |
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| Members of the PCC
L-M Craft Committee listen to a presentation by Ira Pierce
of the Cantor Seinuk Group on rope access. |
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