President’s Column 

Issue 2, 2025 

Building Tomorrow Together

Editor’s Note: This column is an edited down version of President Driscoll’s keynote speech to the convention delegates on September 29. To view the entire speech, go to bacweb.org.  

Brothers and sisters, friends and guests -- look around this hall. We are a union that has been 'Building Tomorrow Together' for generations.  

Our predecessors fought for safe working conditions, fair pay, benefits to support their families, and a voice on the job. They built the foundation upon which we stand today. Now, it is our turn to pick up the tools and continue that work. 

At its heart, our union's core mission is to provide the leadership, the resources, the support, and the community that empowers BAC members to thrive in all aspects of their lives, not just on the jobsite. 

The Power of Solidarity 

The challenges we face—whether it's a rapidly changing economy, or a hostile political climate—are immense. But we are not facing them alone. When we stand together, we are a force of unity. 

Every time we negotiate a contract, organize a contractor, or defend workers’ rights, we are building a stronger, more just future—together. Solidarity is the fundamental source of our strength—the simple, but powerful principle that we can achieve together what would be impossible alone. 

As craftworkers, we know firsthand that no single person builds a school, hospital, or office building by themselves. Successful projects demand coordination and collaboration among many skilled hands, all working toward a common goal. 

The same is true for our union. Our ability to shape and build a better future for BAC members requires the active support and participation of our entire membership. 

Unions Build Communities 

BAC members are not just workers; we are sons and daughters, parents, neighbors, and citizens. The gains we win at the bargaining table ripple out to strengthen entire communities, helping to build schools, support local businesses, and create a more equitable society. That’s why it’s essential that our union helps shape the policies and legislation that affect workers.  

BAC’s mission to protect and advance workers' rights is guided by a commitment to our members, not party loyalty. However, while we can’t afford to be partisan, we also can’t afford to be apolitical. 

When evaluating our support for candidates, we recognize that a public leader's support of unions must be measured by their actions, not just their words. We must scrutinize their stances and their records on the right to organize, the right to bargain collectively, the right to affordable healthcare, and the right to a dignified retirement after a lifetime of work.  

Conversely, we have a special duty to call out those impostors who claim to support workers with one breath, while attacking unions and the institutions that protect workers with another. We need to call out that hypocrisy for what it is and unmask their effort to distract us from real policies and programs that would improve the lives of workers and their families. 

Despite the challenging political environment, we find ourselves in, BAC will always persist, without apology, in fighting for the rights of workers and their unions against those who attempt to undermine our hard-won gains.  

Rejecting Division, Strengthening Unity 

Worker solidarity has been challenged for as long as trade unions have been in existence. In the 19th century, robber barons sought to pit worker against worker. Today, we’re seeing a similar playbook – including turning native-born workers against immigrants.  

The real solution is not to pit worker against worker, but to focus enforcement actions on those fraudulent employers who profit from their abuse of workers. 

We are a union whose establishment, growth, and continued success has always relied upon our ability to attract and integrate successive generations of immigrant workers. BAC stands ready to assist those workers seeking lawful employment in our industry and who want to experience the benefits of being in a union.  

Growing our Voice 

Generations of BAC leaders have recognized that the power of our voice is shown in the strength of our collective bargaining agreements. And that speaks directly to the importance for growth across our union.  

First is what we often think of as traditional organizing work: expanding our market share by converting non-union masonry and tile work into BAC work hours.  

Second is growing work opportunities require that we organize new members.  

Our apprenticeship programs are a crucial part of that strategy. We’ve always trained apprentices and improvers to replace retiring members, but our training programs are also a key incentive for the prospective contractors that we seek to organize. They need access to a skilled and available workforce that can expand as needed to meet their project demands, and we have the best programs in the industry. 

Expanding Market Share / New Technologies 

Organizing and training new craftworkers alone won’t be enough if we want to regain the work hours that BAC members were performing prior to the pandemic. We also need to focus on expanding BAC’s share of the construction dollar. 

Ultimately, we can only build the industry together when our partners share and value an enduring commitment to our trades. So, as we build tomorrow together, by engaging with our contractors and organizing the next generation of workers, what will that tomorrow look like?  

Well, the future of work is not predetermined; it is a choice. Technology itself does not guarantee progress. It’s our responsibility to actively engage in shaping how technology is developed and how it’s implemented in our industry, ensuring that workers' interests are at the very center of the evolving workplace. 

We will support those technologies that are introduced with our input – those innovations that reduce the physical toll of our labor, that make our jobs safer, and that responsibly and equitably increase production.  

Conversely, we will combat the introduction of those technologies or systems that only seek to displace workers, monitor and control our activities, weaken our negotiating power, and suppress wages.  

Standing Strong, Together 

We are BAC, a union of builders from diverse backgrounds across North America. Our union is an enduring enterprise dedicated to empowering BAC members to thrive in all aspects of their lives. 

The challenges we face are significant, but never insurmountable. When we stand together, united in purpose: We are a force to be reckoned with. 

Let's build a future where every worker has dignity and respect.  

Let's build a future where every family can thrive.  

And let's do it the only way we know how—by working together, shoulder to shoulder, for a common cause.  

Brothers and sisters, Let’s Build Tomorrow TOGETHER!