TAUC Conference Discusses Future Labor Shortages
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| Enlarge Image Union leaders gather for the TAUC conference. |
June 3, 2008 • The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) held a town hall forum to kick off its annual Leadership Conference, providing insight from five international union presidents on industry-related topics. The 2008 Leadership Conference, which took place in
A 90-minute forum entitled “Can We TAUC?” focused on five categories: labor shortages, organizational structure, marketing of union construction, accountability, and customer service. The format elicited candid responses from the participating international union presidents, especially concerning the need for the partnership between union contractors and labor groups.
“We need to make the change in the industry, because we are the best, but if we're going to profess that we are the best, we have to ensure we're providing the contractors with the best that there is out there,” said Painters International Union President James Williams. “The evaluations of the local councils are very, very important to determining where the problem is. Our contractors, we can't live without them, and they can't live without us and the earlier we figure that out the better we all are going to be.”
One topic discussed was the huge number of craft workers who will be retiring in the years to come.
“Forty-seven percent of our members are either eligible to retire today, or will be in the next 10 years, and that 47 percent comes out to roughly 40,000 members,” Ironworkers International Union President Joe Hunt said. “So, for us to just maintain our present membership, we have a yeoman's task on our hands. And you can't grow market share if you can't supply trained ironworkers, or trained bricklayers, or whichever trade you are. You can't grow if you don't have the manpower to supply and grow with.”
