BCTD’s Ayers urges stellar performance by trades
WEDNESDAY MORNING’S keynote speaker, BCTD President Mark Ayers, delivered a candid and uplifting address to the convention — ripping national political leaders for failing to give top priority to creating jobs, but also issuing a challenge to all construction trade unionists to seek excellence in their craft.
Ayers said that in the past, when national crises harmed the United States, presidents like Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower, and John F. Kennedy “overcame partisan differences in order to find solutions to our nation’s most pressing problems. You could take comfort,” he said, “in the fact that we had leaders who were on the job. These great American leaders put the interest of the many ahead of the interests of a special few.”
Ayers said that today, however, “misguided leaders are more concerned about Wall Street’s bottom line” [than the plight of millions of unemployed Americans]. “I regretfully submit to you that the failure to create American jobs is a choice, not simply an economic reality.” He added, “These misguided leaders are singularly focused on low taxes for the most fortunate among us. They don’t care how working Americans will feed their families and put roofs over their heads.”
He said the stimulus was not large enough to create and sustain good-paying jobs and that more needs to be invested in our infrastructure, concentrating on improving America’s roads, bridges, electric generation facilities, and other essential projects.
“We’re tough, rough family men and women who represent the best fabric of our nations.” — MARK AYERS, BCTD PRESIDENT
Ayers praised BCTD unions for the strides they have made in providing the best-trained and most highly-skilled construction workers in the industry. He noted that today BCTD unions have more than 1,000 state-of-the-art apprentice training facilities — an investment of over $1 billion annually.
Even with their superior skills and the value union trade workers bring to projects, Ayers said an occasional poor performance can create inaccurate perceptions that affect all union trade members across the country. “We must demand of each other nothing less than stellar performance — every minute, every hour, and every single day. That is what the customer pays for. It’s what the customer expects. It’s what the customer deserves.”
A key challenge for the union construction industry is to get the message out to owners, contractors, and public officials that the trades bring exemplary value to projects. He reminded delegates of the BCTD trade brand: “Value on display every day.”
Ayers described Canadian and American trades as “the picture of North America’s middle class and true patriots of the U.S. and Canada. We’re tough, rough family men and women who represent the best fabric of our nations. We are proud Americans and Canadians. And when the going gets rough, we are one nation without borders. That’s who we are, and that’s who we want to be — and we are proud of it. Our nations — both the U.S. and Canada — need you. And I for one will make sure that the top leaders in both countries never, ever forget it.”
