In Demand: Worker Training Remains a Priority

"It pays to know a trade."

We couldn't agree more with those words, which appeared in an editorial published Sept. 2 in The Canton Repository. After the Columbus Dispatch reported that Ohio companies were experiencing "greater than average"difficulty filling jobs in the construction trades, the Repository expressed support for a new law designed to help that will take effect in 2017.

The workforce development plan, which got a $10 million boost in the state's 2015 operating budget, provides grants of up to $5,000 for students who seek training in a field where there is a shortage of workers. State Rep. Kirk Schuring of Jackson Township was a supporter of the funding, which requires an experiential component like an apprenticeship in a trade.

Our chairman, Dave Kirven, who is business manager for Plumbers & Pipefitters Union Local 94 in Canton, said the local shortage isn't currently severe because of the drop off in the oil and gas industry over the last couple of years.

As the editorial pointed out: "There's plenty of work now for established tradesmen between the natural gas power plant being built in Carroll County and the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village project."

We're fortunate in that regard. Still, the importance of worker training remains a priority, which is why apprenticeship programs are so important.

"Ohio must continue to encourage young people to explore careers in the trades and offer adequate training programs for adults transitioning between careers," the Repository editorial said.

The East Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council places a high priority on worker training. For more information about our construction industry apprenticeship programs, click here and click here to view our brochure.

The East Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council is on line at www.eastcentralohiobuildingtrades.com.

Project Labor Agreements: Good for Communities, Good for Developers

The East Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council is proud to have been a part of negotiating a Project Labor Agreement with the developers of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village in Canton.

As reported last year in the CantonRepository, “Those involved with Hall of Fame Village have committed to using as much local labor as possible on a development venture expected to draw nearly 3,000 construction jobs to Stark County within four years.”

Construction underway at Benson Stadium. (CantonRep.com photo)

That was good news for local unions. At that time (June 2015), complete details weren’t ironed out, but in the weeks that followed a PLA was signed, sealed and delivered. Former Canton Mayor William Healy was a big proponent of our local labor unions and supported our desire to sign a Project Labor Agreement. Developers on the project include Industrial Realty Group of Los Angeles, with an office in Akron; Welty Building Co. of Akron; Fred Olivieri Construction of Canton; and Motter & Meadows Architects, also of Canton.

As the Repository would later report, Canton City Councilman Frank Morris said that the PLA not only ensures that workers are paid prevailing wages, it protects the local tax base, which is an important revenue stream for the city.

“We will bring this project in on time and under budget, because that’s what we do,” Dave Kirven, president of the East Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council and business agent of Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 94, told the Repository.

Our colleagues at the Ohio State Building & Construction Trades Council posted on their website that Project Labor Agreements “differ from standard collective bargaining agreements by including all of the parties working on a specific project, not just a single union and contractor.”

Indeed, they are a proven way to effectively manage and maintain time schedules and budgets on a project by including all the union parties working on a specific contract. By standardizing labor conditions, PLAs encourage fair competition among contractors.

Not only that, but PLAs provide a pathway to better paying jobs for low-income communities, minorities and veterans. That was the finding of the Industrial Labor Relations School at Cornell University in 2011.

At the time, the late Mark Ayers, former Building & Construction Trades Department president of the AFL-CIO, said, “Not only are PLAs an effective project management tool that delivers ‘on time, on budget’ results…but they are extremely effective at providing job and career training opportunities for historically disadvantaged communities. The bottom line, as exemplified by this report, is that PLAs work.”

If you haven’t been by the Pro Football Hall of Fame lately, take a drive down I-77 through Canton and you’ll see the flurry of activity that is taking place there. The first phase of construction on Tom Benson Stadium will be complete in time for the Hall of Fame enshrinement activities this summer. Construction on the entire village project will continue over the next several years, and labor unions in the East Central Ohio region will play an important part in that construction.

Visit the East Central Ohio Building Trades online at http://eastcentralohiobuildingtrades.com/

Union Members Collaborate to Help Build Canton's Future

More than 300 attended the Draft Day Experience

Thursday, April 28, will go down as another milestone date for the building trades unions in East Central Ohio. The inaugural Draft Day Experience took place in Downtown Canton and exceeded all expectations, with more than 300 football fans and Canton enthusiasts packing the ballroom at the McKinley Grand Hotel to watch the first round of the NFL Draft and support the plans for the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village.

The event was the brainchild of the East Central Ohio Building & Construction Trades Council and particularly our president, Dave Kirven, who also serves as Business Manager for Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 94 in Canton. Dave and his colleagues with the Stark Carroll Oil & Gas Partnership -- including Brodie Haer, Doug Lane, Mike Boyd, Mike Furcolow and Tom Delamater -- began working on the idea in January and put the event together in three months' time. Deb Oberlin of the Holiday Inn in Canton was instrumental in bringing NFL alumni to the event and helped with other planning and logistics. It was truly a team effort.

Dave Kirven (L) visits with
Anthony Griggs, who played for
the Browns and Eagles

Just as important was the involvement and support of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Senior VP Dave Motts met with our committee in early February to offer the Hall's support and discuss how they could be involved. Pete Fierle, Jim Macris, Brian Proud and many others helped open doors and provide memorabilia, publicity and displays to top off the evening and give it the prestige that only the Hall of Fame can offer.

The goal of the event was two-fold: One, to raise funds in support of the Legends Landing, an assisted living residence planned as part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Village; and two, to position Canton to host the actual NFL Draft in the future. 

Support for the Legends Landing and the Village project is important, said Kirven, because the Hall of Fame and the project developers have signed a project labor agreement that will guarantee union participation in the construction of the facility.

Fans bid on NFL memorabilia and other
items during our silent and live auctions

A true testament to the collaborative nature of the draft event came from an editorial in the Canton Repository on April 27. Titled "NFL Draft dream still alive," the editorial praised the groups for their work, not only on the Draft Day Experience, but also on the goal of bringing the Draft to Canton.

"These are the types of community partnerships that must be built now if Canton is going to win over the NFL's site selection committee," the editorial stated, before adding: "There's no better way for the NFL to celebrate its 100th season (2019) or its centennial (2020) than by holding its draft in the birthplace of the league and the home of the game's immortals."

We agree, and are grateful to our event sponsors, plus the more than 300 guests -- including a strong showing of union members -- who attended the first of what will be an annual event to celebrate the NFL Draft and our member unions' involvement in the future growth of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Visit the East Central Ohio Building Trades online at http://eastcentralohiobuildingtrades.com/