From the President
Messages from MCA-KC President Bill Adams.
MCA Boards of Kansas City & Eastern Missouri Collaborate on Common Issues
Members of the Board of Directors from both the MCA-KC and the MCA-Eastern Missouri met in Columbia, MO on Tuesday, June 26, 2012. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss common issues that both organizations are currently facing in the industry and determine if there are ways in which the two MCAA affiliates could collaborate.
The meeting included a sharing of information between the two Associations regarding a wide variety of topics and issues. At the conclusion of the meeting, the group agreed to pursue a number of issues jointly, focusing on the following areas:
- Labor Relations
- Political Awareness & Action in Missouri
- Educational Programming
- Internal & External Communications
From this collaborative effort, the MCA-KC will work to improve services for our membership in the areas listed above, as well as continue to bring greater overall value to the contractors it serves and to the industry as a whole.
Sincerely,
Bill Adams, MCA-KC President
Pursuing Our Contractor Commitment to Excellence Pledge
While at times he can be controversial, Mark Breslin gets a lot of things right.
Back in January he wrote an article that highlighted how little our workers understand the business side of mechanical contracting. Furthermore, he suggests that it’s the responsibility of the contractors to work with the unions to help bridge this gap. I couldn’t agree more.
MCA-KC has been working toward that engagement for a few years. But, we have to go much further.
I suggested at the beginning of this year that we take a simple step to show our commitment to this approach: the Contractor Commitment to Excellence. I’ve received minimal feedback and really need your thoughts on this.
The “Contractor Commitment to Excellence” is similar to our UA’s Standards for Excellence. It would serve as a simple checklist of things we can do every day as contractors to help move our industry forward and take back the work from the non-union shops. As Breslin says, contractors need to, “Stop complaining that change is not occurring fast enough, and do something to influence it.”
- Have open and honest communication with employees about the status of the industry and companies.
- Update MCA-KC’s job tracker form weekly to keep tabs on the non-union competition.
- Send in our prevailing wage forms every month.
- Support Journeyman Continuing Education.
- Send in proper evaluation forms of apprentices.
- Understand all local and national agreements or call the MCA-KC staff to help pursue opportunities that use all available tools to get new union jobs, projects and hours.
- Participate in MCA-KC and union led educational efforts to improve contractor innovation, competiveness, and support the next generation of union contractors.
Those are just a few of my ideas. We need your thoughts. Email me at info@mcakc.org and tell me what you think about having a “Contractor Commitment to Excellence” and your ideas for it. We will be discussing this at our next board meeting on May 30 and developing a communications plan for it.
Working together, I know we can turn back the tide and regain our work.
Bill Adams
President, MCA-KC
Updated Target Fund Analysis
As you know, Target Funds are one tool used by MCA-KC’s union contractors to make us more competitive on bid day.
Please take a moment to read our updated analysis of some results from the Target Fund program at our website.
The good news is that these funds are helping us win projects. Over the past two years, we’ve won more Target Fund projects than we’ve lost.
The bad news is that it takes a lot of target money to win these projects. Even with these funds applied, we’re still losing a lot of projects – and a lot of union jobs – to the non-union shops.
I encourage you to read through the results and continue to use the new tools at your disposal to be as competitive as possible on bid day.
There are two other ways you can help make MCA-KC contractors more competitive.
First is by using our Job Tracker to keep tabs on our progress against our non-union competition across all jobs, whether Target Funds are used or not.
You can help us by filling out our easy to use job tracker at the MCA-KC website.
The simple form will help us determine exactly where we stand. Thank you to everyone who is actively filling out the job tracker!
Second is by actively engaging your employees in the innovation and changes our industry needs to make looking forward. Just as you as contractors engage with your association, it is vital that you provide opportunities for your employees to engage with you.
The latest Breslin Strategies Report, focuses on this important piece of the puzzle, and I encourage you to take a look.
Sincerely,
Bill Adams, MCA-KC President
A Committment to Excellence
A few weeks ago, I laid out some ideas for a “Contractor Commitment to Excellence” and asked for your input.
Only a few individuals responded, but I’m going to keep bringing this up because, as contractors, we need to all make the commitment to boost our industry as we’re building our shops.
Simple steps like filling out the jobs tracker (see separate article below) and passing in our prevailing wage forms every month can make a big difference in our collective futures. Please send your thoughts to the MCA-KC staff here. I’ll compile our collective thoughts and share in my next email in a couple of weeks.
As a reminder, here were a few of my ideas:
- Send in our prevailing wage forms every month.
- Support Journeyman Continuing Education.
- Send in proper evaluation forms of apprentices.
- Understand all local and national agreements or call the MCA-KC staff to help pursue opportunities that use all available tools to get new union jobs, projects and hours.
- Participate in MCA-KC educational efforts to improve contractor innovation, competiveness, and support the next generation of union contractors.
I look forward to hearing your thoughts!
Bill Adams
President, MCA-KC
Jobs Tracker Updates
The coming of the warm weather usually means a busy time for our company. I’m optimistic that this summer will be a good one – for all of us.
To make that a reality, we need to work together.
There’s one simple thing you can join me in doing to help the cause.
Please make sure you fill out the easy to use tracker at www.mcakc.org/job-tracker/ to help us measure how we are doing against the nonunion threat. This is the best way for us to get a clear view of the markets we are winning and losing. The numbers below tell just a small portion of the story.
Hours Lost = 8,996*
Mechanical Revenue Lost = $5.27 Million*
*Based on data submitted by MCA-KC Contractors dating back to October 2011.
I’ve said many times that our industry is at a crossroads. We’re on the right track toward making union contracting more competitive.
However, the reality right now is that it’s been a long time since the phone would ring from the homeowner in distress because the A/C or plumbing needs repair. It’s also true that many general contractors won’t call a union mechanical contractor to install or service any residential or light commercial project.
We had that work once, and we can have it again. The MCA-KC will continue to work with our union teammates to find solutions to bring back those union projects, jobs and hours. We will continue to work on packages that make us more competitive against the nonunion shops.
However, you can make the difference as well.
Join me in committing to growth by using the MCA-KC Job Tracker: www.mcakc.org/job-tracker/.
Bill Adams
President, MCA-KC
1. Strategic Thinking & Planning for Contractors (PDF)
2. The Latest Garrison Report Newsletter
3. Garrison’s “Construction Industry Self-Assessment” (PDF)