Just like the magnet in the picture – the non-union is retaining our skilled union trained Building Trades workers in a very systematic way.
Think of the magnet as the 88% of market share the non/anti-union has, which is still unfortunately growing. Still growing because all the trades still insist on using a completely failed, Value Centric strategy, to grow the Building Trades. We primarily think we are a “brand”, that has customers!
When an officer or the Rank and File say things like – we can’t compete because of cost and we have to show VALUE and reduce costs; this is the Value Centric strategy of nearly 2 decades. No numbers anywhere can back up any statement of “net” success! None!
Go to most International/District Council/Building Trades meetings or conventions and you will think we are kicking butt.
We know this concept and strategy by various names in the trades. Top-down, Breslin, Win – Win, Collaboration, etc…
Brother Mc Garvey will soon hold our Legislative Conference in April. This being a presidential election year – he will have many speakers and most of the time on the agenda dedicated to politics.
However, it is “RETENTION” of skilled tradespersons that keep the International Presidents up at night.
Retention is a direct result of the failed Value on Display strategy of approx. 20 years. The Trades have few jobs to offer and to indeed hold a skilled journeyperson for a career. With under-employed, un-employed, journeypersons on the road for extensive periods, many of the former non-union stripped/recruited workers saying first hand – that why they joined the union is to get training and our H&W benefits to get their family squared away, etc… – are ripe pickings for recruitment by the non/anti-union. So we train them and then when skilled, and with contacts, go to the non-union!
Brother Mc Garvey will mostly likely frame that the BLS (Bureau of Labor Statics) show an increase of new members and there-fore pronounce the Value Centric strategy a qualified success. Only in the Building Trades universe would this be true – because in all other relevant worlds in North America it would not!
1.6 Trillion dollars of construction work in the US alone was done in 2015, a new record since 2006.
Here is the link to the BLS website and the numbers that the trades report. http://www.bls.gov/iag/tgs/iag23.htm#workforce Takes a little time to learn and work with – however in CONTEXT: the trades will spin what appears to be a positive number – when it is not. We in the trades lost jobs relevant to how many we “should” have got to even have a push! This is the first time in the Building Trades history we in the trades DID NOT even hold our own with a construction boom in both Canada & the US – “NET” in context!
The non/anti-union are reverse recruiting actively and aggressively our best workers. Have been for a few years now. These for-profit companies like www.ihirebuildingtrades.com – www.tradesmeninternational.com (which calls themselves a union in Google searches) – www.trillumstaffing.com – www.buildingtrades.jobs-to-careers.com – www.aerotek.com – and several others; entire job is to find our union tradespersons and transfer them to the non-union side of construction and construction delivery.
They do it with the help of many anti-union entities. I personally have been through 8 interviews from various firms. They know those that they call well. They get most of their info from the gated jobs that want every piece of info they can extract from us – which is now mandatory per our Internationals.
Here is a brief Executive Summary from our research of what is going on behind the scenes with regard to reverse recruitment and the anti-union agenda with ALEC, RTW, ABC, Heritage Foundation, to some extent CURT, NMA, AGC and many other bad actors.
Retention – the labor pool is only so big and since we will not aggressively organize with structure, we are now on the wrong end of workers having to feed their families and having a “JOB”.
Organizing only definition is – “taking a non-union company and signing them to a CBA (Collective Bargaining Agreement) regardless if they want to or not, and giving anti-union companies there wish; which is they would rather go out of business then sign a CBA. “IF” our internationals are too scared to put a company out of business legally and lawfully that openly say we do not have a right to exist – then they should not be Building Trades officers. The Rank & File are up for this fight.
Labor Rising structure and strategy is to concentrate on the clients, credit and social footprint (perception) of the end-user, developer, construction manager & GC. With the construction world contracting and consolidating – the BT can decide who wins and who loses in the market! When we can especially get to the “customers” of each of the above, with an array of strategies and tactics, including getting into the 21st century with regard to technology – then and only then will we win!
Retention – we are training the non-union to take our jobs and if this solid trend continues – the middle class will turn into the working poor on our watch!
It is on Labor and the trades to step up and defend all workers, union or not, and quit being/playing the victim.
“if you see a good fight – get in it”
Danny L Caliendo
Organizer
Labor Rising/Labor Combat
