The Crisis in Union Construction

Robert Hoover is the president of The Association of Union Constructors (TAUC) and vice president of labor/quality for Aker Kvaerner Songer, Inc, Canonsburg, Pa.

Over the last three decades the union segment of the construction industry has been in a death spiral. The reality is that we have ourselves, the contractors, to blame. It is easy to point the finger at our colleagues in labor for the decline, but it is up to management to manage. Over the years there have been numerous examples of labor and management failing to collectively recognize the causes of our demise and develop viable solutions. We often spend more time fighting each other than our real competition and arguing over issues that, in many cases, have already been agreed upon through the collective bargaining process.

TAUC hopes to change that. Our association is focused on the issues that are troubling our industry, and we hope to instill a new sense of responsibility and ownership in our members and the people they employ. But how do we demonstrate the importance of acting with prudence and doing what's right for the collective rather than for the individual? The first step is education, along with open and honest dialogue among our members to concentrate on the problems that hold us back. Through education and open communication, we can facilitate positive change for everyone who has a stake in the union construction industry.

Unions have always fought employers for basic workplace rights and have taken huge steps forward on behalf of the common worker and society as a whole. This is still needed today, but there is a flip side to that coin. While good union-employing organizations, like many of the contractors that TAUC represents, do exist, there is a desperate need for a new era of labor-management cooperation to help fight our true competition. A new era of labor-management cooperation needs to take hold, one that embraces multiparty collaboration, strategic planning and progressive marketing solutions to become better at what we do every day.

For years, the National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee (NMAPC) has espoused the idea of tripartite governance, where all three parties involved in construction • the owner, the union and the contractor • are brought to the same table to discuss their collective needs to ensure the most efficient and streamlined methodology possible. The owner community demands cost savings, quality and timeliness, and we believe that union contractors and craftspeople have the best approach to deliver on these demands.

TAUC requires only one fuel to stoke its fire: our members' willingness to contribute and be part of the solution. Whether it's participating in governance roles within the association, petitioning local or federal government on behalf of our industry, working with various local and national unions or simply picking up the phone to let our staff know how we can better serve our members • the willingness to get involved is what will move our industry down the path to market recovery. We know our union contractors can deliver on the needs and desires of our clients in the most time-effective, safe and productive manner possible.

TAUC represents 2,500 union employing contractors, almost all of which utilize cranes in their businesses. These are your customers, and they spend huge sums of money year in and year out with crane and rigging contractors. The information and educational opportunities provided to our membership run the entire gamut of construction, and because of our member's utilization of cranes on their jobsites, there is always a place for crane and rigging contractors in our group.

Business is booming in the industrial maintenance sector and the main industry concern is the lack of a skilled labor to meet the current level of demand. Our association works hand in hand with the international unions to do whatever needs to be done to increase the market share of union construction while demand is high, and the crane and rigging contractors play a vital role in this success.

We recognize that the loss of union market share is not the union's fault alone, nor is it their responsibility to resurrect it to a semblance of its former self. Contractors must take the necessary actions, through hard self-evaluation, to address the needs of the market to ensure union construction's future success.

Someone has to step up and say what everyone knows to be true, to save our sector of the construction industry from the apathy and politics that are prevalent today; someone has to do this so that union workers and employers can once again scratch, kick, and bite our way back to the top.

It is TAUC's mission to bring the three components of union construction together to highlight what needs to be done to gain a competitive edge against the open shop without shying away from the tough questions or the tough answers. We aim to meet challenges head-on and find solutions. By joining TAUC as a governing member, you become part of a multi-craft, national effort that promotes positive change within the current system and helps everyone at the table compete more effectively.