Union Contractors, Basic Trade Leaders Meet Through AGC

The AGC of America held an AGC-Basic Trades Forum and Union Contractors Committee meeting on October 17^th in Washington D.C. This was designed to provide an opportunity for union contractors to voice their concerns to leaders of the national unions and the association.

Introductory remarks were made from the labor leaders, who criticized lost man-hours and jobs over the past two years and mentioned the efforts that have been made to manage the crisis. There was mention of joint efforts with contractors to market the value of union construction in terms of productivity and training.

The leaders also spoke about initiatives to boost training during the period, including a significant increase in journeyman upgrading, development of a new, state-of-the-art training center, and added focus on training craft workers to keep up with changing technology and materials. The key topics that were discussed included pensions, cost-competitiveness, jurisdiction disputes and other inter-union strife, and workforce development.

An AGC of America meeting followed the AGC-Basic Trades Forum; the United Contractors Committee (UCC) decided to send a letter explaining the AGC doesn’t pick sides and believes it is inappropriate to advise the unions about how to organize themselves.

The UCC then engaged in a strategic planning session building on the results of a recent chapter survey designed to gather updated information about chapters’ collective bargaining relationships and how the committee can best serve collective bargaining chapters today.