Driscoll to Become President of Bricklayer’s Union as Boland Announces Retirement
[Washington, D.C.] December 18, 2019 – James Boland, President of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers (BAC), has announced his plan to retire effective December 31, 2019, following more than 24 years of service as an International Union officer, including nearly a decade as President.
The International Union’s Constitution provides that in the event of a vacancy in the office of President, the Secretary-Treasurer shall fulfill the remainder of the term. Therefore, Secretary-Treasurer Timothy J. Driscoll will become the International Union’s President effective January 1, 2020.
A native of Ireland, Boland immigrated to the United States in 1970 to find work and a better life for himself and his family. After joining BAC in 1977, Boland worked in the San Francisco Bay Area in brick, block, stone, and marble before becoming a Business Agent in 1988. In 1992, he became President of Local 3 California, an office he held for two years until being called to serve the International Union as Assistant to the President for Trade Jurisdiction and Regional Director for California and Nevada. In 1995, Boland was elected to his first term as a member of the IU Executive Board; he became Secretary-Treasurer in 1999, and President in 2010.
“Jim took the helm of our Union in its bleakest hour since the Great Depression,” remarked incoming President and current Secretary-Treasurer Tim Driscoll. “Jim’s passion for working people and his own capacity for hard work stabilized the organization and built it in to the strong and vibrant Union that it is today. And his own experience as an immigrant drove him to ensure that ours will be an inclusive and diverse Union for the future, welcoming of all comers.”
Driscoll, a second-generation bricklayer, joined BAC Local 3 Massachusetts in 1985, where he served his apprenticeship and worked as a journeyman bricklayer on numerous commercial and institutional projects throughout the Boston area. Traveling for work in the early 1990’s, he eventually settled in the Washington, D.C. metro area and joined Local 1 Maryland/Virginia/D.C. in 1992.
Driscoll’s service with the International Union began in 1995 when he joined the IU’s Government Relations department, later becoming Assistant to the President. In 1999, he was promoted to Director of Trade Jurisdiction, vigorously and successfully defending BAC members’ work opportunities in scores of matters over the course of the next decade. During that time, Driscoll also served on the AGC Basic Trades Committee, the National Maintenance Agreement Policy Committee, and administered various other National Agreements on BAC’s behalf, working with many of the Union’s largest signatory contractors. In 2010, Driscoll was first elected as Executive Vice President, the office he held until his appointment as Secretary-Treasurer in January of 2017.
As Secretary-Treasurer, Driscoll has overseen the International Union's financial and administrative operations and has been instrumental in shaping the IU's communication, publication, education, and government relations initiatives. Driscoll for years also has led the International Union’s efforts to address emerging new products and systems in our industry, enhancing work opportunities for signatory contractors and BAC members alike. Well known since his early work in Trade Jurisdiction, Driscoll is recognized throughout the building trades industry for his judgment and strength, reasoned approach to issues and ability to solve problems and get things done.
Boland said, "It has been a privilege and a pleasure to serve as the President of this great Union, and particularly to serve alongside my friend, Tim Driscoll. I have every confidence in Tim’s strong leadership, his excellent judgment and his commitment to our Union and each of its members. BAC is in great hands and has a bright future."
Incoming President Driscoll is also pleased to announce that he will appoint Robert Arnold as Secretary-Treasurer to fulfill the remainder of his own term, effective January 1, 2020.
Arnold, the National Director of Apprenticeship and Training for the International Masonry Training and Education Foundation since 2012, is a member of BAC Local 21 Illinois. He joined BAC as a bricklayer in 1978. Arnold was promoted to his first foreman position at the age of 23 and went on to lead numerous complex jobs for BAC signatory contractors as a foreman, general foreman, superintendent, and project manager.
Arnold began his teaching career in 1998 as an International Masonry Institute Job Corps instructor at the Paul Simon Job Corps Center in Chicago, Illinois. He then became an instructor with Local 21, and in 2001, Director of the Illinois District Council Training Center (DCTC), one of the largest BAC training centers in the U.S. In 2011, in addition to his DCTC position, Arnold became the North Central Regional Training Director and served in that role until becoming National Director the following year.
Driscoll said of Arnold’s appointment: “I have worked closely with Bob for many years on projects vital to the future of this Union. Bob’s enthusiasm for education and training, his track record of welcoming innovation and promoting members from underrepresented backgrounds, and his overall dedication to BAC’s members make him uniquely qualified for this moment in our Union’s history.”
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The International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, headquartered in Washington, D.C., is the oldest continuous union in North America and represents roughly 75,000 skilled masonry-trowel trades craftworkers in the United States and Canada, including bricklayers, tile setters, cement masons, plasterers, stone masons, marble masons, restoration workers, PCC and finishers, and terrazzo and mosaic workers.