From the Desk of Mario Delgado

Organizing Update

First, I would like to thank those members that have inquired about volunteering their time for organizing purposes. In today’s tough labor market, it is understandable when members are unable to participate in union activities due to whatever reason they may have. Those members that have been able to help, have expressed their interest in helping BAC Local 3 to improve its position in the local labor market and most importantly, advance the Labor movement itself. Again, thank you! There can never be enough members who choose to become more active in the labor movement, call the local office for more details.

During the past two years, your entire BAC Field Staff has been aggressively putting forward the new organizing plan implemented by your Local 3 leadership. As of today, we have welcomed over 30 new contractors to BAC Local 3 and show no signs of stopping. With each new contractor we sign, we put ourselves in a greater position of bargaining strength, to demand fairer wages, better health benefits, and a retirement plan for the future. Organizing continues to be our primary function as we promote the BAC belief that contractors should compete on their business abilities and their estimating skills, not on the low wages and poor working conditions that non-union contractors subject their employees to.

The experience factor of your BAC Local 3 field staff has been a tremendous asset when going out into the field when meeting with non union contractors and their workers. Your field representatives years of trade experience and the industry contacts they have made over the years, i.e. general contractors, field reps from other trades, local, county, state and federal officials is one of the main reason’s we have added new contractors. Our continued presence in the field will result in more contractors joining BAC, and when the economy recovers; produce more jobs for our members.

The other important factor in organizing, are our union members that are able to participate in our organizing campaigns. Without them, it would be more difficult for your union to achieve the success it has seen thus far. Worker participation is the foundation of the Labor movement. Without their involvement, we would not have the gains we have today. In order for us not to lose those gains, we all must actively enforce the collective bargaining agreements that we have. Do not think just because you are a member of the Union, the contract will be automatically enforced. You, the membership need to be aware of the contractual agreements at hand. Remember, we are an organization of workers who join together for a common purpose, for mutual aid and protection, to engage in concerted activity and collective bargaining and ultimately to elevate our conditions in life and labor. The Union is only strong as its members.

We understand that organizing must be linked to everything we do, such as politics, legislation, community service, etc. We will continue to organize new contractors and their workers, enforce labor laws, maintain labor compliance on prevailing wage jobs, and promote our apprenticeship programs. With residential construction not even being a fraction of what it once was before, commercial projects heading into difficulty because of funding issues or some other reason, its all about public work projects now. A good amount of our time and effort is being used to advocate work for our members in the public works arena. Do you happen to know of any planning for new construction of schools, libraries, public buildings, colleges, police and fire stations, etc., in your area? Get involved! Tell you’re locally elected officials to make sure they use masonry and tile materials on the new project. Explain to them the benefits of the installation of such materials (Think Green!) in a new building by Union craftsmen such as yourself. Remember, it’s your tax dollars being put to use here. The voices of say 10 local, taxpaying, union members speaking to a school board about a new school to be built, usually have more clout than say one Union rep from out of town speaking on your behalf. Don’t know where to start or what to do, call the local office and ask for a Union field rep to answer any questions you may have.

 We know times are very hard and everyone’s situation is unique. The impact of the recession to the construction industry has been overwhelming, with our local union not being immune from its effects. Many of our contractor’s projects that were “on the books” have either been delayed or cancelled, with several of them stopped or delayed during construction because of financial issues. But in times like we are in now, I am reminded by words my football coach use to always say; “Winners do not sit around licking their wounds complaining about their situation, they shake off the body shots, get back up and get to the business at hand”, words to live by. You can take solace in knowing that our future is looking bright, just so as long as we continue to:

 Agitate! Educate! Organize!

Why should I pay Union Dues?

With the tough economic recession going on, every one of our members is paying more attention to their finances, trying to figure out where to save an extra buck. They often think about skipping their monthly union dues payment so I have been getting this question asked to me a lot lately. Where it may seem to some that this would be a hopeless question and that there is no good reason to justify the payment of dues, the answer is really quite simple.

Every business firm, social or civic organization, church or government body requires financial support to carry out its functions and responsibilities. Similarly, BAC Local 3 needs financial resources to conduct its affairs. Without adequate financial means, it would be impossible for our local to represent its members properly. The many kinds of services that our union provides require financial resources. Contract negotiating, grievance handling, representing the interests of our members at various levels of government, organizing the unorganized, training, and many other functions require sufficient funding if our union is to represent our interests adequately in society as a whole and the work place in particular. Therefore, we, as members, have an obligation to recognize that our union must have adequate financial support if we are going to be effective in representing our interests. Union dues are an investment for you and your family’s future.

~ “We’ll organize workers in this movement as long as we’re willing to sacrifice. The moment we stop sacrificing, we stop organizing.”~ Cesar Chavez