IMI Annual Meeting Welcomes New Co-Chair and
Industry Leaders
February - March 2005
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| Newly named IMI Co-Chair
Fred Kinateder at the joint session of BAC’s
Labor-Management Craft Committees in February. |
The IMI Annual Meeting and Masonry Industry Education
Conference in November 2004 brought an important announcement
and useful tools for boosting union training resources.
The announcement was the naming of Wisconsin contractor
Fred Kinateder, president of Fred Kinateder Masonry,
Inc., as Management Co-Chair of IMI. Kinateder will
also serve as President of the International Council
of Employers of BAC. His predecessor, Eugene George,
president of GA Masonry (Ontario), will serve as Past
President of ICE. George served as IMI Co-Chair for
25 years. “Gene was always willing to do whatever’s
necessary to advance the interest of the unionized
masonry industry – our members and its contractors,” says
BAC President John J. Flynn. “His dynamic leadership
has been instrumental in making IMI the leading force
it is today.”
The tools and strategies for building union masonry
markets nationally, regionally, and locally included
advice from a panel of BAC and IMI officials on creative
ways to partner with local resources such as community
colleges and neighborhood groups to maximize training
resources. Allen Smith from the AFL-CIO Building and
Construction Trades Department brought a renewed focus
on exposing non-union training programs that train
few if any craftworkers, and explored strategies that
BAC Locals can use.
Fort Worth, Texas architect Chris Huckabee, whose
firm Huckabee, Inc. specializes in schools, had encouraging
words about the long term cost advantage of masonry.
Huckabee, who favors masonry, believes that sustainable
construction with quality products and workmanship
is actually less expensive over the life of the building,
and offers environmental benefits like mold resistance.
School boards and building owners are paying attention,
he told attendees.
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