Construction Industry Steering Team Summary of Minutes
8 a.m., Thursday, July 10, 2008, Mark One Electric, 909 Troost
Attending: Terry Aikins, Rosana Biondo, Troy Carlson, Jim Delaney, Gary Eagan, Lyle Farrand, Rick Greeno, Don Greenwell, Garry Kemp, Dave Lovetere, Leroy Lutes, Payne Mendenhall, Bill Miller, Herb Millard, Lonnie Scott, Ron Shaffer, Jon Thompson, Dan West, Colleen White, Craig Wright, Bob Jacobi, Christy Woods.
•Introductions and thanks to Rosie Biondo and Mark One for hosting.
•Presentation from Christy Woods, National Partnership for Women & Families/Aligning Forces for Quality/Kansas City Quality Improvement Consortium (KCQIC) on enhancing health care quality. Woods is helping the 14 communities around the nation, including Kansas City, awarded grants from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Aligning Forces for Quality project. The project includes public reporting of health care providers’ results, quality improvement and consumer engagement. The project offers labor and management in construction the opportunity to provide information about quality care and providers, help workers take an active role in quality of health care and have more productive relationships with doctors. Tools include a website (www.kcqic.org), patient empowerment trainings, diabetes at work program, brochures and input into the local project. For more information contact Woods (
[email protected]), Cathy Davis, UAW-Ford and KCQIC,
[email protected], or Bob Jacobi who serves on the local leadership team.
•KC Borden is back working and tests show the cancer is gone.
•The Missouri gaming issue on the November ballot removes loss limits and increases funds for education but caps the number of casino licenses. No recommendation for an LMC position was made by the committee but several suggested a neutral position.
•The Kansas City, Mo. Light Rail issue to be on the November ballot was also discussed. More information will be sought for the LMC Issues Committee meeting on Aug. 19.
•The Carpenters have generated an ordinance at city of Kansas City, Mo., to apply the prevailing wage to economic development projects that currently do not fall under the existing law.
•The Kansas City Construction Partners is considering a third Construction Summit. A speaker other than Mark Breslin would likely be sought, though Breslin has an article in Construction User magazine that is of interest. Other key issues discussed included foreman and steward training and the complexity of measuring impact. (note the following summary of a recent workshop at the Federal Mediation & Conciliation Service national conference:
From Journeyman to Foreman: Identifying Barriers to and Strategies for, Motivating and Developing First-Line Union Supervisors
The aging of the construction workforce has, among other factors, led to a challenge for contractors seeking to develop and keep foremen. As retirements increase, the shortage of foremen will get worse.
In Chicago, labor and management both identified foreman development as a problem. Stephen Lamb, Mechanical Contractors Association, and Dan Day, Construction Employers Association, told FMCS conference participants that they decided to take a strategic approach to the issue.
The contractors groups hired a DePaul University professor, Russ Rogers, to survey union craftsmen both foremen and journeymen to determine why more workers weren’t stepping up to foreman positions. The survey found, among other results, that the increased hassle was not viewed as commensurate with the $2 in additional pay per hour; that there was a lack of supervisory skills and interpersonal conflicts were barriers to wanting to become or remain foremen. The attractions of the position varied by age group, and were also somewhat different among those who are foremen versus journeymen.
Focus groups were held to augment the survey. Key items identified as barriers were management problems such as inaccurate bidding, unrealistic schedules, lack of management support for the foremen, conflicting priorities and more. One foreman noted that he hadn’t taken a vacation in 12 years.
Contractors are now being surveyed, and apprentice focus groups are planned, but in the meantime the group is already working on possible solutions. Among the proposed actions are a higher pay differential for foremen, increased training opportunities for technical, supervisory and self-management (stress etc.) skills; mentoring programs; web-based just-in-time coaching for foremen to get questions answered, and intentional planning for succession of foreman.)
•NICE will not be pursuing the Engineering and Construction Academy concept in the Kansas City, Mo., School District as the school board failed to vote on the needed documents. However, NICE’s high school program for 9th graders will be implemented this fall at Van Horn High, now in the Independence School District, with full support of Superintendent Jim Hinson. Discussions are also underway with Kansas City Kansas SD about focusing its program on one high school and with Hickman Mills on Crayons to CAD. A North Kansas City High teacher will beta test the construction math curriculum this year. The 2009 iBuild will be May 5 at Bartle Hall.
•Depending upon the Missouri Supreme Court’s decision on the 2005 workers’ comp changes, a group of union and management will look at a new revision of the law that meets both sides’ needs. A study may be done of the impact of the 2005 law. A similar effort will soon be underway on unemployment compensation law in Missouri.
•The Building Trades Golf Tournament is July 21.
•The Laborers’ Charitable Foundation Golf Tournament is Sept. 19.
•The LMC Mid-Level Leadership Program begins Oct. 1.
•The Minority Coalition annual luncheon is Oct. 6 (see attached) It also coincides with the Women Construction Owners national meeting here.
•The LMC Public Officials Reception will be Nov. 20.
•The next meeting will be 8 a.m., Thursday, Sept. 11 at Mark One.
•M/S/C to adjourn at 9:40.