The Labor-Management Council of Greater Kansas City celebrated its 40th Anniversary April 19 at Argosy Casino, recounting its founding and accomplishments, honoring Eric Borden for his video on the vital importance of skilled trades and electing officers. Photos from the event can be found to the left under 40th Anniversary.
Borden, the “Ditch Digger” poet, member of Operating Engineers Local 101 and employee of Kissick Construction, wrote a poem and created a video “promoting the integrity and honor of construction craftwork” said Don Greenwell, Builders’ Association president and LMC treasurer in announcing Borden as the recipient of the Leadership in Labor-Management Cooperation Award. This is the 20th year the LMC has given the award.
The LMC was presented an entry in the Congressional Record from the office of U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, who was the first recipient of the Leadership in Labor-Management Cooperation award when he was Kansas City, Mo., mayor. Cleaver aides Manny Abarca, recently elected to the Kansas City, Mo., School Board, and former Missouri Rep. Randy Dunn, made the presentation. In part the entry reads:
“As a trailblazer in the Greater Kansas City area since their founding, the Labor-Management Council (LMC) has focused on providing the tools for employees to successfully negotiate with their employers…My collaboration with the LMC has been one of the most rewarding aspects of my career, and I am honored to serve alongside this remarkable organization.”
Nearly 300 attendees learned about why and how the organization was founded from representatives of the founders:
•Brian Dietz, LMC Co-Chair and vice president of JE Dunn Construction Co., represented co-founder William H. Dunn, Sr. He read a letter Mr. Dunn wrote commemorating the 40th anniversary and describing the organization’s founding. Dietz also noted the conditions in the 1970s, when labor strife in Kansas City was the worst in the nation. He pointed out that the Kansas City International Airport was delayed by strikes, and after 40 years of work by the LMC, the new airport is being built under a labor agreement, as well as other examples of a significantly improved labor-management climate in the area.
Dietz also noted that he, as well as several other LMC leaders, is a graduate of the Mid-Level Leadership Program created by the LMC with Rockhurst University in the 1980s. The Mid-Level Program has developed leaders for the community as well. Graduates of the 2018-19 class were presented with their certificates at the event.
“Labor-management is really just people talking to each other” said Pat “Duke” Dujakovich, Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO president and past LMC Co-Chair representing founder the late Bob Reeds. “In the late ‘70s and ‘80s, labor realized that we needed to change. The LMC gave us a way to talk with management and build relationships.”
Kansas City’s reputation as a difficult place to do business helped spur another founder, Jim Monroe. Monroe was the first president of the Kansas City Area Development Council, which coordinates business attraction and growth throughout the region. Bob Marcusse, recently retired KCADC president, cited a trip Monroe and other founders made to South Bend, Indiana, where a labor-management program had been created at Studebaker Motor Co. to improve relationships. That was the model followed by Kansas City, he said. Kansas City now experiences record growth and employment that would not have been possible without the LMC’s work in improving relationships, Marcusse added.
When Bill Dunn Sr. decided to reach out to labor, he asked his friend Meyer L. Goldman, publisher of the Kansas City Labor Beacon, who were the top three labor leaders to reach out to. The publisher, highly respected both within labor and the broader community, gave the key names and later became the LMC’s founding secretary. Today the paper continues to prosper with Kevin O’Neill as publisher. O’Neill called Goldman a “renaissance man,” as his innovations included founding the paper, helping reorganize what became Truman Medical Centers, founding the HMO Prime Health and his role in founding the LMC. “When Meyer saw a problem, he fixed it.” He was able to do in part because “he told the story of working people so well, everyone knew him.”
O’Neill told the story of how when Dunn was raising funds to help the Don Bosco and Della C. Lamb community centers, he was able to get support from two of the three biggest area banks but not the third. Goldman and Dunn brought the problem to Sam Long, an LMC labor co-chair. Long called the head of the third bank. “Do we still have $100 million in funds in your bank?” Long asked. When the CEO answered yes, Long asked for the support for the community centers. It came the next day.
Essential to the LMC’s founding and continued success is Rockhurst University. The late Rev. Frank Murphy, S.J., a labor relations professor and arbitrator, was brought in early to help the group form. He recruited Rockhurst President the late Rev. Maurice Van Ackeren, S.J. They also agreed to host the new organization at Rockhurst, where it continues within the Helzberg School of Management.
In recognition of the 40th Anniversary, Rockhurst and its leaders including President Thomas Curran, S.J., and Cheryl McConnell, vice president and Helzberg School of Management dean, issued a statement. “Since its inception, The Labor Management Council and Rockhurst University have worked together to enhance collaboration and communication between labor and management in the Kansas City community.” Recounting the history of the relationship, the statement noted that “we value our relationship with the LMC and find we share a similar mission to create a more just world.”
Among the event’s attendees was Phil Scaglia, a former executive director. The LMC also published a document summarizing the organization’s history that was distributed at the celebration. Additional copies are available, as are addtional copies of the event program.
While celebrating 40 years and presenting its awards, the LMC also elected Jason Mendenhall, Heavy Construction Laborers Local 663 business manager, as Co-Chair, Labor, and Gabe Jones, also with Local 663, as Vice Co-Chair, Labor. Outgoing Co-Chair, Labor Tim Bell, Western Missouri & Kansas Laborers District Council, was recognized. Re-elected to the board were Alise Martiny, Greater Kansas City Building and Construction Trades as secretary; Don Greenwell, Builders’ Association, treasurer; Mike Kane, Tri-County AFL-CIO, executive committee; and board members KC Borden, KC National Electrical Contractors Association and Chuck Tarpley, Plumbers Local 8.
Sponsors making the celebration possible included William H. Dunn, Sr., who made a special contribution; Founding sponsors Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City, Builders’ Association, Cigna and IBEW Local 124; Anniversary sponsor JE Dunn Construction Co.; Awards sponsors Construction and General Laborers Local 264, Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO/Working Families Friend; Heavy Construction Laborers Local 663; Pipefitters Local 533 and Power Partners. Supporter level sponsors included FCI Advisors; Michael D. Fitzgerald Lawyer, Arbitrator, Mediator; Stephanie Haynes, Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service; Laborers Local 1290; Mechanical Contractors Association; Milwaukee Tool and Pro-Mechanical, LLC.
Volunteers for the event included Robin Norris, Builders’ Association and her granddaughter Cassie Shine, and Mary Jacobi. The staff and union member servers at Argosy were also crucial to the event’s success, said LMC Executive Director Bob Jacobi. Bill Wien, Builders' Association, also took many of the photos at the event.
Two attendees also won prizes: Vicki Tarpley won two tickets to the Kansas City Royals donated by Mark One Electric Co., Inc., and Marvin Davis, City of Kansas City, Mo., who won tickets to the Kansas City Ballet.
The LMC’s next event is the 21st Annual Craig Whitaker Memorial Golf Tournament July 15 at Oakwood Country Club. The LMC also participates with the Mid-America Labor/Management Conference July 7-10 at Camden on the Lake.
The Labor-Management Council of Greater Kansas City is a nonprofit association based at Rockhurst University. Its mission is to enhance collaboration by solidifying trust and communication between labor and management in the community. Contact the LMC for more information at [email protected] or (816) 501-4565.
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