Working Together!
An Important Message Regarding the Future of Union Plumbing & Pipefitting
Delivered by Bill Adams, President of The Fagan Company and MCA-KC Board President
The MCA-KC Installation of Officers Banquet, January 21, 2011
Everyone knows we’re in a difficult market, and it’s important to recognize where we are succeeding. Through our improved apprentice training, MCA-KC educational programs, the UnionFITS program, process changes, etc., we are continuing to build on the foundation of what has made Union Contractors and the quality of the work we do the standard by which others are measured. But it’s important that we all build on our successes, not rest on them.
Our industry has changed tremendously in the 38 years that I have been in the mechanical contracting business. Anyone remember lead and oakum joints? Now we just glue the PVC pipe.
For those younger members of the audience, a lead and oakum joint was made with an oakum rope and molten lead to join cast iron pipe. I’m sure there were a few health and safety issues with the molten lead!
Who would have ever anticipated flexible natural gas piping or press fit copper systems?
And when I started in this business working with a typewriter, a pencil and paper drawings, I could only imagine a tool as powerful and as workable as 3D CAD drawings of an entire building’s mechanical systems.
The common denominator in all of these changes is technology, and as in many businesses, technology has leveled the playing field. Technology has given our non-union competitors many of the technical capabilities that traditionally only we as union contractors have enjoyed due to our skilled workforce. The increased capabilities of estimating software, design programs, and simplified construction tools and methods have all been driven by technology and allowed our non-union competitors to do more work with fewer qualified people.
Non-union contractors embrace these technologies and extensively preplan and prefabricate mechanical work. This has shifted a significant portion of any mechanical project to fabrication and material handling. Those same competitors, using less-skilled, lower-cost labor, have taken over markets such as the light commercial market that we used to dominate.
All of us with a stake in the mechanical industry need to work together to get those projects and hours back! Getting those hours back is the only way we solve the pension liability issues which are important to all of us. Solving those issues in a mutually agreeable way is one of the most important things we have to do right now, because finding a workable solution allows all of us to focus our energies on landing quality jobs and delivering a quality product – the reason we’re all in this business to begin with.
However, some things do not change, and that can be a good thing. As always, many high quality individuals choose to donate their time for the good of the industry, working with our Labor teammates trying to solve our joint issues. I appreciate those individuals’ ability to set aside personal or company specific issues to support changes for the good of our industry, and I thank you for your dedication. I will make it my primary goal during my tenure as president to work with these high quality people, both the contractors and our labor teammates, to achieve a new contract that reflects the changing mechanical contracting reality.
It is a fact that good people are the backbone of our industry. It is also a fact that the advances in technology, construction methods, and changes in the industry-at-large have created a new industry environment with changing job skill requirements. We will work to build our new labor agreement in a manner which recognizes and reconciles these facts.
We must craft an agreement that meets today and tomorrow’s challenges head on for both contractors and workers. Business as usual will not work.
Another thing that does not change is the ability of our Union contractors and labor teammates to tackle any complex project and provide a high quality result. This is no accident. It is the result of good people, quality training and a commitment to excellence; the cornerstones on which the Union contracting business was built, and the foundation on which we need to continue to build.
To that end, I want to expand upon our recent education successes by continuing to develop our educational offerings by listening to our members and addressing their needs. The MCA-KC exists to enhance the mechanical contracting industry, but it can’t do it without communication and cooperation with all of you.
Let me share an example that I borrowed from another great Kansas City institution – a Hallmark card. The card had three older men walking along a beach. The first said, “It is windy today” to which the second man said, “No, I’m sure it is Thursday”. The third man said, “I’m thirsty too, let’s go get a beer”. Obviously it’s a light hearted example, but the message is the valid – without effective communication, we’re all just talking to ourselves. We must communicate our thoughts clearly and communicate our motivations rationally in order to work together effectively.
MCA-KC is your organization – we need input from all of our members to ensure that we are providing what our industry needs.
Change is a constant, and its pace is only increasing. Change can make us all uncomfortable, but that doesn’t make it wrong – I’m certain no one misses lead and oakum joints. The bottom line is, change is inevitable; whether we are around to participate in it is not. We have to try new ideas and methods or we will fall behind.
Thank you for your contributions to our industry. Keep giving MCA-KC feedback; it is appreciated and invaluable. Let’s make 2011 a year to remember!
