BAC Journal > BAC Executive Council: Empowering Workers in Our Trades

BAC Executive Council: Empowering Workers in Our Trades

2022 Issue 2
News in Brief
arjae
Arjae Rebmann, right, and James Skretta of Starbucks Workers United speaking to the Executive Council. “There is no shortcut around teaching workers what their class interests are and being able to get them to understand, on a personal level, why a union is something that they want to fight for,” said Arjae Rebmann, whose grandfather was a bricklayer and lifetime BAC member.

Expanding our union’s ability to improve the lives of workers engaged in our trades was the theme of the BAC Executive Council’s March meeting in Miami Beach, FL. To enhance members’ ability to provide for their families and enrich their communities, “we need to engage in conscious planning that strategically and methodically produces growth in membership, contractors, and work opportunities for BAC members,” BAC President Tim Driscoll said during his opening remarks. “The International Union will focus its efforts in the coming year on four primary functions: organizing, training, public advocacy, and industry advancement.”

The BAC Executive Council members were provided with updates from the IU departments and reports from each region. They also heard from a line of inspiring guest speakers, including Martin Helms, Executive Director of Helmets to Hardhats; Amy Walker, national editor for The Cook Political Report; Jon Soltz, Chairman of VoteVets; Anthony Shelton, International President of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM); and James Skretta and Arjae Rebmann of Starbucks Workers United.

Anthony Shelton
BCTGM International President Anthony Shelton was one of the keynote speakers at the BAC Winter Executive Council meeting. “I want to thank all the BAC members who came out to the strike line and helped us…That labor solidarity is one of the ways that we won these strikes,” President Shelton said.

Four retired members of the Executive Council were recognized for their service to the union’s highest advisory body: former Wisconsin Administrative District Council Director Gary Burns, former President of Local 2 Michigan Chuck Kukawka, former Secretary-Treasurer of Local 2 Michigan Nelson McMath, and former Vice President of Local 1 New York Zach Winbush.

The labor-management and craft committees also met for the first time in three years since the Covid pandemic. These meetings addressed how signatory contractors and the union can continue to work together to grow BAC membership, union contractor base, and market share. Speakers from the industry included Paul Hart, Vice President of Product Marketing and Data Innovation at ConstructConnect; Peter Cappelli, the George W. Taylor Professor of Management at The Wharton School and Director of Wharton’s Center for Human Resources; and Mike Clancy, Partner at FMI. Topics discussed during these presentations covered the construction economy, membership recruitment and retention, and contractors’ succession planning.