Executive Council Meets to Plan a Stronger BAC Future
The winter meeting of the BAC Executive Council – the first since the 2025 Convention – saw newly elected members and Council veterans alike come together to build a path forward for a stronger BAC. 
After opening the meeting by honoring three recently retired leaders – Local 4 California President Lupe Aldaco, Local 2 Michigan President Paul Dunford, and Local 4 Quebec Charge d’Affaires Jeannot Levasseur – President Tim Driscoll welcomed the eight new members of the Council, remarking that “one of the greatest strengths of this Council is the continual infusion of new voices and perspectives.”
Those new voices soon had a chance to make a real impact. After hearing reports from several IU departments and guest speakers, including Representative Lateefah Simon of California’s 12th Congressional District, health care expert Mark Blum of America’s Agenda, and workplace safety leader Chris Cain of CPWR, the Council took up a new charge.
President Driscoll introduced the new initiative by revisiting the union’s growth goals and progress made over the past year. “Our success in growing the BAC will determine how successful we can be in delivering the wages, benefits, and conditions that BAC members expect and deserve,” said President Driscoll. “And to that end, the Executive Board has formed three new Executive Council Committees: the Committee on Industry Development, the Committee on Organizing, and the Committee on Member Engagement.”
Driscoll went on to explain why those topics were chosen as the committees’ areas of focus. “Industry development, because our work opportunities within construction are neither given nor inevitable, but are absolutely essential to the livelihood of BAC members. Organizing, because our market density determines the wages, benefits, and conditions that BAC members command in their communities, and because organizing is the bedrock of our collective strength. And member engagement, because contractors, developers, and elected officials need to know that when BAC leaders speak, they have the unwavering support of the members they represent.” 
The work of the committees is not limited to their meetings at the Winter Council. As President Driscoll explained, “these committees will meet throughout the year to evaluate the BAC’s capacity in these important areas. Their mission is to develop and refine strategic efforts, and to develop clear benchmarks to measure accountability – now is the time to hold up a mirror to our industry, our union, and ourselves and determine how we can achieve our goals.”
Each committee met for several hours over the course of the meeting to identify strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities for growth, and selected members to present preliminary reports to the Council. “I commend the Executive Board for this initiative,” said ADC of New Jersey Director John Capo. “Once we all started up in our groups, you can see how productive these committees will be. We had real productive conversations which I believe will help the union going forward.” The committees reconvened electronically in early April, and will continue their work to bolster BAC strength across the union.