Nearly 4,000 construction workers jammed the Overland Park Convention Center Nov. 20 to learn about a blueprint for the future of the organized construction industry in the Kansas City region.
Sponsored by the Labor-Management Council of Greater Kansas City, “Survival of the Fittest” featured author and contractor association executive Mark Breslin’s analysis of the industry and his inspiring charge to rank and file construction workers. Union workers already have the best training, Breslin told the crowd, and now need to add changed practices and even more rigorous focus on quality and productivity to succeed in the highly competitive marketplace. Workers, contractors and customers all benefit when union workers are consistently at their best, Breslin said.
The event was organized by the Labor-Management Council’s Construction Industry Committee to compliment a presentation by Breslin to contractors, union leaders and construction customers at the second annual Construction Industry Summit Sept. 25. The Construction Industry Committee has committed to enhancing industry practices to better meet customer and community needs. Breslin’s address is among the first major industrywide efforts to implement needed changes. Kansas City’s effort is the largest and most comprehensive of its kind in the nation, Breslin noted, and is the first to involve large numbers of rank and file workers.
Contractors and unions collaborated on getting rank and file workers to attend. Nearly 20 percent of all unionized construction workers in the region attended. Participants included all construction crafts in the Kansas City region, plus a number from outstate Missouri and Kansas.
Sponsors of the event included the Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons International Association; the Builders Association/Associated General Contractors, Heavy Constructors Association, National Electrical Contractors Association, Asbestos Workers Local 27, Boilermakers Local 83, Bricklayers Local 15, Cement Masons and Plasterers Local 518, Elevator Constructors Local 12, Hankins Services Inc., International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 124, Heavy Construction Laborers Local 663, Kansas City Insulation Contractors Association, MWH/City of Kansas City, MO., Capital Improvements Management Office, Painters and Allied Trades District Council 3, Pipefitters Local 533, Plumbers Local 8, Roofers Local 20, Sheet Metal Workers Local 2, SMACNA, Sprinkler Fitters Local 314, Teamsters Local 541, Bangert Computer, Black & Veatch, Brotherhood Bank & Trust, Building & Construction Trades Council of Joplin, Cement Masons Local 518 Apprenticeship, Commerce Bank, Construction & General Laborers Local 319, Fordyce Concrete, J.E. Dunn Construction Co. and Walton Construction Co. Volunteers and staff from the Greater Kansas City Building & Construction Trades Council managed the event.
The Construction Committee is now working to implement follow-up plans to build on the momentum of the two events. For more information, please contact Bob Jacobi, executive director, Labor-Management Council, (816) 501-4565 or bob.jacobi@rockhurst.edu, or Garry Kemp, business manager, Greater Kansas City Building & Construction Trades Council, (816) 836-8485.