MARK H. AYERS, President
SEAN McGARVEY, Secretary-Treasurer
MICHAEL J. SULLIVAN, 1st Vice President
DANA A. BRIGHAM, 2nd Vice President
EDWIN D. HILL, 3rd Vice President
JOSEPH J. HUNT, 4th Vice President
JAMES A. GROGAN, 5th Vice President
JAMES A. WILLIAMS, 6th Vice President
NEWTON B. JONES, 7th Vice President
WILLIAM P. HITE, 8th Vice President
KINSEY M. ROBINSON, 9th Vice President
PATRICK D. FINLEY, 10th Vice President
JAMES P. HOFFA, 11th Vice President
TERENCE M. O’SULLIVAN, 12th Vice President
JAMES BOLAND, 13th Vice President
Building and Construction Trades Department
AMERICAN FEDERATION OF LABOR—CONGRESS OF INDUSTRIAL ORGANIZATIONS
815 SIXTEENTH ST., N.W., SUITE 600 • WASHINGTON, D.C. 20006-4104
(202) 347-1461 www.BCTD.org FAX (202) 628-0724
Mark H. Ayers
President
Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO
to
2010 Legislative Conference
Washington, DC
April 19, 2010
Thank you very much.
Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters…Today we meet in this great hall at a pivotal time in American history and in the history of America’s Building Trades Unions.
Together, as Americans and as trade unionists we must decide whether to wither in the face of our current economic adversity or work like hell to wrestle it into submission. I am not going to stand at this podium today and tell you about the dreadful unemployment situation in our industry. You live this nightmare everyday and it’s embodied in the faces of our members as they turn to you for help.
Our focus this week will be to address the higher hopes and noble aspirations that we all have and draw a roadmap of how we America’s Building Trades unions can help our members rise to renewed prosperity.
During far worse times Americans have persevered, rebuilt, dug in, and lifted their nation and themselves upward. And we can do it again.
In his first inaugural address at the peak of the Great Depression Franklin Roosevelt summoned the spirit of American resilience when he said, and I quote: “We are stricken by no plague of locusts. “Compared with the perils which our forefathers conquered because they believed and were not afraid “we have still much to be thankful for.” End quote.
(PAUSE)
Indeed, we are not in denial about the poisonous and reprehensible behaviors of the Wall Street money-changers and eight years of an administration that had hopes of eradicating unions. Together they have torn a gaping hole in the financial fabric of our nation and our very existence as the stalwarts of the middle class.
And we aren’t in denial about the ugly state of American politics that has left us frustrated in trying to figure out who our true friends are. But as in the past, it will be American working people you, me, and the good people we are privileged to represent whose spirit, skill, and determination will lift us up and deliver us to a better and more economically secure future.
FDR realized this when he continued: And I quote: “These dark days, my friends, will be worth all they cost us if they teach us that our true destiny is not to be ministered to but to minister to ourselves, and to our fellow citizens.” End quote.
The American economic recovery, although showing positive signs of improvement, will be neither painless nor short-term. But I challenge each and every one of us to put our shoulders to the wheel and work with renewed vigor on job-creating programs and policies that offer our members real hope.
Okay let me outline a few of them for you. Much of what the Building Trades have championed in Washington is being distorted by the noxious televised tirades of a few self-serving media figures.
Let’s break through the “just say NO” rhetoric and talk about the real world, the world in which our members live and seek job opportunities to do what they do best.
While the unemployment and COBRA benefit extensions along with the largest middle class tax cut in history were enacted immediately a lot of the construction-related benefits of the Stimulus Bill have been back-loaded—meaning all the money wasn't spent at once and there is still money in this Bill targeted at projects that are near and dear to our hearts.
And we are finally seeing substantial projects get under way in all regions of the country. At the Department of Energy installations in Savannah River, Hanford, and Oak Ridge thousands of our members are returning to work.
(PAUSE)
And thanks to President Obama’s executive order that encourages the use of PLAs on federal projects we have seen three major government jobs in Hawaii, California, and Oregon go union in the past few weeks.
And, since last summer 21 of 25 major Department of Energy construction projects were covered by project labor agreements. And there will be many more.
That’s what we’re fighting for and that’s what this President is delivering for us... jobs. And that’s what we want, isn’t it? Jobs for our members. Jobs for our contractors.
RIGHT NOW!
(PAUSE)
Brothers and sisters, I am just as frustrated as you about the anti-PLA blockades in some federal agencies that exist because of hold-over Bush-appointed bureaucrats who oversee procurement policies.
But take it to the bank, there isn’t any hesitation in the Obama administration. In fact, last week, the final Federal Acquisition Rule strongly favoring PLAs on federal projects was issued. This is serious progress, after 8 years of Bush administration union-bashing.
And, if the President’s adversaries in the U.S. Senate would stop “just saying NO”, if the Congress would quit focusing on political games and instead focus on confirmation of President Obama’s nominees then Barack Obama would have his whole team in place. And we can be rid of these Bush obstructionists once and for all!
(PAUSE)
Of course, the biggest legislative gorilla on Capitol Hill this year was the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act—the health care bill. As adopted, it is far from perfect. But it is nevertheless a huge step forward in controlling runaway health insurance costs, stopping cost-shifting to our plans, and providing a basic human right to over 30 million uninsured Americans.
We applaud President Obama for taking on such a tough fight but this fight is not over for us. We will continue to push for employer mandates in the construction industry that level the playing field for small union employers—the life blood of our unions…and for a public option that will provide real competition to insurance companies.
(PAUSE)
Ladies and gentlemen, the rancorous debate over health care has taken our attention off of other critical issues. Issues that are vitally important to the Building Trades and to all Americans.
I’m talking about legislation that will create urgently-needed jobs for working families. For example, a balanced energy and climate bill that will generate tens of thousands of construction jobs for our members now and in the future has languished in the United States Senate.
Our unions are also working hard on several smaller -- but vitally important jobs bills including legislation that contains extensions of our members’ benefits under COBRA providing longer unemployment insurance coverage and helping spur highway and bridge projects.
One of those jobs bills The HIRE Act was signed by the President on March 17 of this year.
Finally, our unions stand firmly in favor of the financial reform effort now being debated on Capitol Hill. Our industry will only see significant growth when the spigot of private investment opens once again for commercial and residential development.
Major projects across the country are stalled because this spigot was turned off during the financial crisis. These projects stand in the skylines of our cities incomplete and silent like ghostly monuments to another age.
We must get those projects rolling again and financial reform legislation will help provide the structure and the certainty that is necessary to attract new private investments in all types of projects.
Brothers and sisters, the lack of capital and healthy credit flow are strangling our industry. And it is exactly why we need our elected leaders to rise above politics and focus on job creation…NOW.
As is often said in construction “it’s time to knock off the bullshit.” Jobs are neither Democratic nor Republican. They are American. American workers are not asking for handouts…far from it. The labor movement has always asserted that the most basic civil right of all Americans is their right to earn their own way.
As the late Senator Ted Kennedy said 30 years ago and I quote “Let us pledge that there will be security for all those who are now at work “and let us pledge that there will be jobs for all who are out of work “and we will NOT compromise on the issue of jobs.” End of quote.
(PAUSE)
Brothers and sisters, WE will NOT compromise, either. We will fight for the right to earn our own way and I’m asking for your support and assurance that you and your members will proudly join that fight.
Do I have that support and assurance?????
So as we speak with elected leaders this week and in the coming months the first word and the final word must always be: JOBS.
(PAUSE)
Ladies and gentlemen while public investments and stimulus legislation are vitally important to us, the fact is that our industry is historically a private-sector endeavor.
In better times, about 75% of all the dollars spent on construction were private dollars. For that reason your General Presidents and I have spent over 2 years developing solid working relationships with key industry players.
Industries like nuclear, petroleum and natural gas, refining, pharmaceuticals and many others. I have always believed that relationships create opportunities and those opportunities are now paying dividends for us.
In essence, we are building our OWN “Recovery Act” with the private sector. It began bearing fruit when we announced at this Conference two years ago the signing of a PLA for the construction of new twin nuclear reactors at Unistar’s Calvert Cliffs plant in Maryland.
Then, just a few weeks ago we signed an agreement to cover the construction of two more reactors at Georgia Power’s Plant Vogtle facility.
(PAUSE)
And now I am pleased to announce the signing of another agreement just last week that will cover the construction of two more reactors at the NRG South Texas Nuclear Facility.
And in each instance we did not compromise wages and fringes. Together, these projects constitute about $50 BILLION DOLLARS and nearly 100 million hours of new work for us over the next ten years.
In addition to thousands of perpetual construction and maintenance jobs for the folks we represent, some of these projects, I’m sure you noticed, are in very low union density areas. This represents a sea change for us. That’s the power of partnership, brothers and sisters, believe me there is much more on the horizon.
We are working closely with these industry partners on many fronts on Capitol Hill, at the White House, and on the jobsites. We have extended the hand of friendship to them, and they to us.
We have also established or are in the process of pursuing additional labor-management partnerships in the petro-chemical industry, in the pipeline industry, and with Native American Tribal governments.
But it is no coincidence that these working relationships have blossomed at a time when the Building Trades have allies in the White House and the Congress.
I must say to this assembly and to all our industry partners: The Building Trades believe in permanent relationships not relationships of convenience or relationships of fancy. If, in the future, the political winds shift we expect these relationships will flourish and endure over many generations with the same commitment to collaboration as exists today.
(PAUSE)
We continually look to nurture those relationships with our “Value On Display. Every Day” brand that many of our local unions in the United States and Canada have adopted.
And we continue to convince current and prospective customers and contractors about our members’ pride, professionalism and performance. And that is a direct result of your commitment to deliver "Value on Display. Every Day." You are helping to change the culture of this industry and for that I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
(PAUSE)
Ladies and gentlemen, I am proud to survey this room and see thousands of leaders. First, I want to acknowledge and thank the leaders here on the dais whose courage, solidarity, and dedication to a united Building Trades movement have been so important to all of us—the General Presidents of our great unions.
(LEAD APPLAUSE)
Yes, we are still missing two building trades unions but we are working on that as well. And many of you in this room today have had the opportunity to see, close up the great skill and vision of my trusted partner, friend, and Secretary-Treasurer, Sean McGarvey.
Sean, thank you for your strength, your loyal support and unwavering leadership.
(LEAD APPLAUSE)
This morning, I also see leaders of local unions, building trades councils, and international unions, leaders in your own communities. Leaders who help give substance to the aspirations of your members and who give inspiration to them.
You have tough jobs. Most of you are elected and you work to balance the political necessities of office with the moral imperatives you bring to it.
In years past, it was all too easy to slip into the “full employment” myth in which the absence of members on the bench meant that there was no need to cast our nets wider to recruit, train, and represent a new and more diverse generation of craftspeople.
Look around…look at me…look at the leaders seated next to you…look at all the people in this room. How many young people do you see?
(PAUSE)
This isn’t anything you haven’t heard before: the demographics of the unionized construction workforce are catching up with us and it's becoming a very serious problem.
We are aging. And if we want to keep this movement alive and vibrant, if we want to ensure that the future construction workers of this great nation have the same opportunity for a decent life as we have had then we need to look for new ways of doing business.
You also know that over the years we’ve been stereotyped as male, pale and stale. And while that’s much less true today than it was in the past—nevertheless, we are still haunted from our local communities all the way to Capitol Hill by the exclusionary reputation that we earned generations ago.
I spoke earlier about the need to build relationships within our industry. I speak now about the need to build solid relationships between our unions and the communities in which we work.
There is great work in this area happening right now in many of our Building Trades Councils in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, the Bay Area, in Portland and Seattle, in Atlanta, in Cleveland and Milwaukee and Providence and in many other cities big and small.
With their community partners the building trades councils and their affiliates have created dynamic recruitment and pre-apprenticeship programs that are delivering highly-motivated and qualified candidates to our apprenticeship system.
Many of these apprentices were economically disadvantaged living with little or no hope of improving their circumstances. It is the building trades which has and can extend the hand of friendship and the promise of a career. A gateway to the middle class. These are not acts of charity or social programs.
In conjunction with our Helmets-to-Hardhats program we are delivering value to our unions, our contractors and the customers we serve. It’s called a value proposition.
And beyond the importance of finding qualified “new blood” for our unions there is an even greater benefit to be realized from these relationships: They are politically and strategically smart. Because, as we build better, more collaborative relationships with communities we also build power. When the interests of our unions and the communities in which we work converge there is no power that can stop us, no adversary who can divide us.
(PAUSE)
But brothers and sisters, I believe that strategic relationships must not stop at the city limits or at the U.S. border. Like it or not our economy is now global. When companies like Volkswagen or Thyssen Krup come to the United States and build huge new plants using contractors that impose sub-standard conditions on construction workers it’s a threat to workers in America AND in Europe!
Some of our affiliates have been deeply engaged with their construction union counterparts, especially in Europe, for many years. But until recently, the Building Trades Department was not actively seeking these trans-oceanic relationships. We needed to change that, and change that we DID.
In January, several general presidents and I attended the Congress of the Italian Federation of Building and Woodworkers. During this visit
we had the opportunity to meet with construction union leaders from Italy and many other European nations.
I can tell you this with utmost confidence: the European leaders with whom we met are EAGER to form strong cross-border working relationships with the Building Trades in North America.
Brothers and sisters, developing solid international relationships is not just the RIGHT thing to do for the Building Trades it’s NECESSARY if we are to protect and enhance the standards of living for our members right here at home.
(PAUSE)
You know, when I look back to this time last year I remember the great excitement and hope that filled this Conference. We were pumped up because of what our political activism had achieved. For the first time in nearly a decade we had a President and Vice President of the United States who were not timid about uttering the word “union”.
Let us not forget that upon their inauguration Barack Obama and Joe Biden walked into a burning house and that those fires were set by nearly a decade of anti-labor national leadership. And while those fires still smolder we are beginning to bring America back from the brink.
(PAUSE)
With renewed vigor and courage from President Obama, Vice President Biden and the Congress the political winds are shifting toward a better day in America. May God have mercy upon us if we allow the majorities in Congress to change this November.
(PAUSE)
Let me remind you there is much that our movement shares with Barack Obama and Joe Biden, but the most important are the values of economic justice and shared prosperity for our nation.
So let us move forward together with our President and Vice President who are the right men, at the right time, to lead America.
(PAUSE)
In closing let me leave you with these thoughts. For every waking moment, from this day forward we must focus on one overarching mission…which is to influence the policies as well as create and nurture the relationships that will produce jobs for our members and expand our ranks.
Putting our members back to work is our number one priority. And to succeed in this mission all we need is courage. The courage of our convictions and the courage to withstand and endure our present struggles with an eye to the promise of the future. Because from that courage will come a greatness that is beyond anything we have ever dreamed.
Remember, as bad as it is today tough times do not last forever, but tough people do. Each and every day I swell with pride because I am fortunate enough to be among the leaders of a movement that is founded upon toughness and resiliency. And I hope you feel that pride too.
Because from this day forward…Right Here…Right Now…we will, and we must, take it upon ourselves to believe with all of our hearts that America’s Building Trades Unions can epitomize the hope of a new and better America.
And through that belief we will stand up to, and fight, the charlatans and the purveyors of fear who for far too long have preyed upon those who are cold and hungry and scared.
(PAUSE)
Because we have seen all too often that when people are cold and hungry and scared they sometimes gather together in panicky herds ready to be led by demagogues who promise prosperity and freedom but who deliver neither!
We will no longer tolerate nor will we abide organizations or individuals – even in our own ranks who play down to the lowest common denominator instead of up to the highest.
We cannot, and we will not, stand silent in the presence of those forces of fear, who cater to the hatreds of every class and race and whose singular objective is to appeal to the worst in people not their best.
As American trade unionists we believe in, and stand for, something better something that is uniquely American but which has been long forgotten by those who nearly led us into an economic abyss. It is called brotherhood and sisterhood. And it is epitomized by the simple, yet powerful concept that an injury to one is an injury to all and that a nation cannot ever be considered healthy when prosperity is the sole domain of a privileged few.
America has always been inspired by the power of our dream. It’s who we are. And we rejoice in knowing especially during frightful times like today that the American Dream is not weakened but rather strengthened through adversity.
America will always grow stronger through conflict and hardship. And our unions will grow stronger because of the conflict and hardship that we are experiencing today.
Ladies and gentlemen, Brothers and Sisters, I say this to you. America’s Building Trades Unions will accomplish great things in the years to come. But to do so, we must not only act…but also dream.
Because the poorest man is not the one without a penny, the poorest man is the one without a dream. And we must not only plan, but also believe. Believe in yourselves, believe in your families, believe in your country, and believe in America’s Building Trades Unions.
(BUILD ENERGY HERE)
Because we will always have a warrior’s courage to face and overcome both the enormous challenges that face our nation on a grand scale as well as the simple private battles of everyday life.
We cannot fail and we will not fail if we have faith in each other…
faith in our unions…and faith in what we stand for and believe in.
Thank you, God Bless you…
And may God Bless America’s Building Trades Unions.
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