If there “ever” is a reason for the Building Trades to re-consider our approach to how we grow market share – and if this report doesn’t provide it – then what the hell are we doing as unions?
“S&P released a report on Wednesday that says the widening income gap in the U.S. contributed to a boom and bust cycle that led to the 2008 financial crisis, and that the growing gap has served as an obstacle to ongoing economic recovery”.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/economy-policy/2014/08/05/widening-income-gap-holding-back-recovery-sp/
Yes S&P wrote this and yes it was carried extensively on Fox and all right-wing news outlets.
So the challenge to all of us as unions is to again be unions. Unions can erase the income inequity and the consistent trend of the 1% vs the 99%. It is our jobs – but should also be our passion to do this.
Brother Sean Mc Garvey, President of the Building Trades and all General Presidents – Labor Rising has never said that your Value on Display approach to raising market share is not a good tool to use in this fight – it has said that it is not a long term strategy that has, or will get the job done.
As a union activist which we all should again become – the S&P Reports clearly indicates to Labor Rising, that only the building trades strong intervention in the affairs at the work place can move the needle of inequity back to the middle-class.
As counter – intuitive as it may at first appear – collaboration with the end-user, construction manager and contractor has had 2 fatal flaws which has kept Value on Display from being effective as a strategy.
We have to quit playing small ball and look to pick up hugh numbers in market share and quit settling for a place on the job in this next cycle of boom work.
The numbers in your own Construction Chart Book, 5th Edition clearly shows the need to reverse this trend.
Labor Rising stands ready to work with your office, as a training institution to help market reps from all trades, to know how to again become activist as well as collaborate when necessary. The whole point of Labor Rising is training our team exactly when to do this, structure in real time, with their own markets, and they need the real ability to build their unions Compression Zone(s) for that to happen.
The Building Trades Academy is strong in Labor Law and in traditional methods of organizing. The internationals own training is strong in how they want to proceed in the construction world and how to present that union in a collaborative way to achieve that.
Labor Risings strengths is structure and understanding the non/anti-unions credit, clients and social footprint well enough to get any contractor to the table.
What connects the dots between the S&P report and Labor Rising abilities is that the overwhelming number of non-union contractors simply will not sign a CBA without the strong influence of a union, and it has to be market wide – not contractor by contractor – to slow.
As this report gets wider scrutiny and the talking heads pontificate on how best to do this – labor unions can be mobilizing to again be all we are supposed to be, and move rapidly to be defenders of all workers and get them in union houses.
Labor Rising is right their next to you Brother Sean waiting for orders – lets win!
Danny L Caliendo
Organizer
Labor Rising Group
