NEWS ARTICLE - September 1, 2009 | |
From the desk of Troy Garland: As you all know the construction market is still slow. I have talked to many other Building Trades Field Representatives and their out of work lists are running between15 to 35 percent of their membership. I remember spending days in the field stripping non-union workers, because we didn’t have enough members to perform our work. Who would have thought it was going to get this bad, but we all know it will turn around; the sooner the better. When the construction market reaches these levels it drastically changes what your Field Representatives do on a day to day basis. It is imperative during this economy to fight for what little work is out there and retain agreements to insure more work for our members. Many members have asked what we do as Field Representatives. Some of the main tasks a Field Representative performs include the following: Ø Representation: Stopping at jobsites and making sure the agreement is being followed, checking on safety, and filing grievances if necessary is one of our tasks. Ø Job Tracking/Organizing: During these times this is more important than ever. Jobsite visits tend to decline in this type of market, because getting work for our members is a top priority. We use numerous ways to find out about upcoming jobs including Dodge reports from the internet, Building Trade Councils, Project Labor Agreements, Contractors and members. After finding the jobs we take action in many different ways depending on what type of project, size, location, schedule, etc. This information leads us in many different directions, including contacting the General Contractors and Awarding Bodies. We may also run compliance, schedule pickets, and send information to the Department of Industrial Relations. Ø Meetings: All your Reps have numerous meetings having to do with many issues. Some of these meetings are: Trusts, Local and State Building Trades, LMCC, International conferences, training seminars, PLA meetings, our local chapter meetings, job fairs, School Boards, City Councils, apprenticeship functions and many others. Ø Misc.: Much of our time is spent on the phone, sending and receiving faxes and e-mails, writing letters and dealing with different people and entities to improve our working conditions, increase our market share, protect our jurisdiction, promote our building materials and any other ways we can to make our union stronger. I hope this gives you an idea of some of a Field Representatives responsibilities. Signing PLA’s are a very effective tool in putting our members to work and organizing non-union Contractors. During these times we still continue to organize new contractors. We have recently signed Project Labor Agreements for the Brentwood Civic Center Project, John Swett Unified School District, Hayward Unified School District and many others, which will ensure work for our members. Recently, I attended a seminar on Labor Law and one issue that came up was bidding on public works projects. I am scheduling a meeting with the Construction Industry Force Account Council (CIFAC) with all our Reps to review the Public Contract Code, which is very complicated. We are always getting new information and we will continue to adapt and implement new strategies to retain more work and best serve the membership. I would to thank all the members who have called in jobsites that we might not know about. You can visit our new web-site and e-mail or call the Union Hall @ 1-800-281-8781 and give us the jobsite locations. We are working hard to make sure that we are “shovel ready” when the economy turns around and our members are back to work. Steve Kantoniemi (shown above) and I recently attended a job fair at Tennyson High School in Hayward after signing a PLA with the School District. |
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