By Jewel Edwards

BNA Construction Labor Report, Oct. 13, 2011

The Bridge, Structural, Ornamental, and Reinforcing Iron Workers, through their labor management group IMPACT, in November will begin offering the first course in a new contractors college designed to help members become union contractors, recently elected General President Walter Wise told BNA.

“A lot of our contractors were rank and file members that went into business. [The college] is for the rank and file member or for small businesses to be able to learn how to grow and how to do better. The first thing a union iron worker needs to go to work is a union contractor,” Wise told BNA during a Sept. 24 interview.

Wise, who was elected Aug. 26 to a five-year presidential term during the Iron Workers 42nd Convention in Chicago, said the Low Density Contractors College is part of the union leadership's long-term effort to create more jobs for its members while the economy continues its slow recovery.

Through the Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust, Wise said during his term the union intends to continue funding existing and new training programs for out-of-work members, and promote policies that encourage funding in construction projects.

“[The Iron Workers are] prime to seize on a lot of the work that comes up. We operate on being the best value in the construction industry out there. Whenever money becomes more valuable, people look for better quality. There are so many conditions set out that are ripe for resurgence. There is going to be a demand for skilled labor,” Wise said.

Infrastructure Policy Would Create Jobs

“We have to make that investment in infrastructure. There's a variety of ways to do that,” Wise said. “I think the problem we run into right now is when we operate on a gasoline tax that hasn't been changed in 20 years. The American public has to realize that you can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want good roads you've got to pay for them.”

Wise said Congress has not been committed to stabilizing the construction sector. To help the industry rebound from high unemployment, legislators need to work toward policy that encourages investments in energy development and transportation. “When you start seeing transportation funded at six months or a year at a time, that doesn't give states or the public much confidence in doing these projects,” Wise said.

Support for Prevailing Wages

In any future infrastructure legislation, Wise said labor policies like the Davis-Bacon Act that help contractors and construction workers “compete on a level playing field” in all areas of work should stay intact. The law, Wise said, protects small businesses and contractors by ensuring that “the wages and the standards in the community are not undercut.”

“Just about every appropriations bill that comes through the House of Representatives tries to strike the Davis-Bacon Act from it. Davis-Bacon is the law of the land. We've been successful with members from both sides of the aisle, Republicans and Democrats, who see the benefits to their communities,” Wise said.

Wise said enforcement of the prevailing wage and worker misclassification laws go hand-in-hand. He said there are instances when a nonunion contractor cheats the worker out of wages simply to avoid paying the Davis-Bacon rate on a project.

“If the wages in the area are prevailed by the union rate, you have to ask yourself how do they secure work? How do they win the bids? Unfortunately, too often they win it by misclassification. They try to pay lower rates for their employee, or just cheat the worker out of the Davis-Bacon wage, or they just commit outright fraud,” Wise said.

Combatting Low Union Membership

During his term, Wise said he also hopes to see the union achieve zero fatalities on construction sites. “We think it's reachable. We think it's doable, but it takes commitment.”

The union is pushing for new regulations on reinforcing steel and post-tensioning, Wise said.

In addition, Wise is also hoping the union can encourage the use of union labor and increase its membership over the years. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2010 construction union membership was at 13.1 percent of the entire workforce.

“During the depression in the 1930s, in the Ironworkers, we lost half our membership.

And then everyone was saying this is the end of unions. Within 10 years our membership was up to 100,000 members because the workers of that time realized that their best interests lie in their own ability to stand up for themselves, and to collectively gather so they had leverage to negotiate. Employees have a right to obtain the best that they can and it's been shown and it's been demonstrated that collective bargaining is the best way to do this,” Wise said.