Restoring and Building — On the Job, and In Our Union
As the cover story of this issue of the Journal (p. 3) reminds us, BAC members are the ones North America entrusts with restoring its most treasured structures. It is our craftsmanship, dedication, and care that sets us apart, and those qualities were found in abundance among the BAC members who painstakingly restored large sections of the Brooklyn Bridge to its original splendor.
Likewise, when owners and architects want to build new icons that will serve their communities for decades, they turn to BAC and our signatory contractors. It took a deep and committed partnership between a union mason contractor and talented, conscientious bricklayers to realize the full potential of the groundbreaking CA6 condominium in Chicago (p. 18); thanks to them, the Windy City has a new classic that will stand the test of time.
The BAC commitment to craft was similarly evident in Las Vegas earlier in the year, where our apprentices took six of the nine podium spots at the World of Concrete Masonry Skills challenge, and where Brother Michael Schlund of the Wisconsin ADC triumphed for the second consecutive year in the SPEC MIX Bricklayer 500 (p. 10).
Our devotion to the trade does not bear fruit only on the jobsite, or in contests. It’s a vital presence every day in our training centers and our union halls, where BAC members are constantly restoring and building our union to make it an even stronger force for trowel trades craftworkers. Our members know that our union is only as strong as we make it, and that to build a powerful union requires the same care and resilience that we bring to the job every day.
That’s why 12 union sisters traveled to the BAC/IMI International Training Center earlier this year to earn their IMI Supervisor Certification (p. 12) — because they know that great supervision brings out the best in BAC journey craftworkers and apprentices, and that leaders aren’t born, but are forged through hard work and commitment. And that’s the same spirit that motivates new local union representatives to complete the BAC New Leaders program (p.14) – the knowledge that it takes continual learning to make BAC the union we want it to be.
For 159 years, BAC has built and restored North America in a way that no one else can, thanks to the determination of our brothers and sisters. So long as we maintain that resolve and focus, we will continue to do so for centuries to come.