By Mark H. Ayers
President
AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department

I would like to focus on a particular, on-going theme that causes me great concern - the fragmentation of the union construction industry.

If you are a student of the building trades' collective history (which will officially span 100 years in 2008), you will know that the periods in which the union construction industry enjoyed prosperity and significant levels of market share just happened to coincide with periods of relative harmony among the trades. Here's just one example, pulled together from the book, "Skilled Hands, Strong Spirits - A Century of Building Trades History":

"Between 1947 and 1954, expenditures for new construction increased by 119 percent nationwide, and set a record high of $47.3 billion in 1957, 3 percent higher than the record set in 1956. Building trades unions and their contractors were in the industry together; one could not prosper without the other, an economic fact of life that the BCTD had been preaching for years.

"Mutual interests had produced the 1939 agreement with the Associated General Contractors that had kept defense construction on track through the 1940s and into the 1950s. And a mutual desire to cut down on jurisdictional fights, and keep the federal government out of industry affairs after the enactment of the Taft-Hartley Act, had led unions and contractor associations to establish the National Joint Board in 1948.

"And when BCTD-affiliated unions negotiated national agreements with the National Constructors Association that traded a no-strike clause for union wage rates and conditions, they bolstered union control of heavy industrial construction."

The lesson we can take from our own history is quite simple: Harmony = Success. And those that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat the same, tragic mistakes. That is where we find ourselves today. We do not have the luxury of trying to sustain a fragmented industry. Folks, it's do or die time!

In fact, the mantra that I want to instill throughout the Building Trades is one that is very simple, yet very acute: PERFORM OR PERISH. And we cannot perform to the best of our abilities if we have an industry and union movement that is fragmented.

Our success is being stifled because of continued fragmentation and conflict, which are symptoms, to be blunt, of an entire industry leadership culture that does not value unity, ethics and cooperation. Whether its BCTD (Building and Construction Trades Department) unions vs. BCTD unions, or BCTD unions vs. NCA unions, or all of us vs. contractors (and vice versa), we are wasting too much time, energy and resources on these adversarial battles… which, unfortunately have the effect of turning allies into enemies. It has to stop.

We cannot, and we will not, be effective in recapturing market share if we continue to sustain these insidious conflicts.

Yes, we all have a sense of pride and identity that comes with membership in each of our organizations. I am an IBEW man at heart. It's in my blood. But, more importantly, I am a trade unionist…which is in my heart and soul. And as trade unionists, we conduct ourselves by the belief that working towards the greater good is in our personal best interests.

Basic trade unionism is about standing up for what's right… and working to challenge those philosophies, policies and practices that are injurious to working families. We must wake up and realize that these petty squabbles - union vs. union and unions vs. contractors - are stunting the progress we can be making for our members… those men and women in the field who are busting their butts day in and day out.

I take great pride in the fact that at the state and local council level the conflicts between the crafts are not as pronounced as they are at the national level. Perhaps that is a function of the fact that the closer you are to the job, the less tolerance there is for egos and personalities and general nonsense.

I would ask that the leaders of those councils where all fifteen crafts are working in harmony would take the time to communicate the particulars of your success to the general presidents of the NCA unions (and of the BCTD as well) and to encourage them to do what it takes to find the common ground that will allow us to coalesce around a strategy to take back the North American construction market.

Let's stop the madness associated with the time and energy being wasted when we focus on our differences, and instead foster a renewed commitment to trust and understanding within our brotherhoods, and pride and professionalism within our industry.

With those two concepts driving our actions, the world can be ours for the taking.