Masonry Magazine July 1973 Page. 9
By WILLIAM DENTINGER
Superior Masonry
Member, Mason Contractors Association of Milwaukee
A joint campaign involving the Milwaukee Bricklayers' union and the Mason Contractors Association of Milwaukee to increase productivity and efficiency in both labor and management and to let the public know they're "building better to last longer" is underway.
The total effort is being sponsored and financed by labor (the Milwaukee Building & Construction Trades Council) and management (the Allied Construction Employers Association) with the responsibility for production of the campaign resting with the ACEA.
Strange bedfellows for such a task? Not these days! Labor negotiations held in April, 1972 saw the ACEA sit down and negotiate a three-year contract with the 13 unions-in one sitting. This session, which started at 1:00 p.m. and ended at 5:30 a.m., seemed to bring to light some common aims the two groups shared. And more importantly, it was agreed these two groups would meet from time to time as a sort of "economics board" for the construction industry to discuss these common problems.
At the first of these meetings, ACEA's Labor Policy Chairman Glenn Neesley, a floor-covering contractor, proposed an industry-wide "Increase Productivity" campaign. A good deal of ACEA staff time had provided more than just an idea, and Neesley was able to talk at length about the mechanics of the program, including its feasibility, costs, printed pieces, and so forth.
To the surprise of many on the management side of the "board," the unions were 100% in favor of the project and proceeded to make a substantial contribution to the budget from Building Trades Council funds.
Almost a year to the date of the multi-craft bargaining effort, June 25th, 1973, the Milwaukee Journal carried the story in the lead position on page 1, "Contractor, Unions Push Productivity." That same evening at the 8th annual ACEA "Hard Hat" dinner attended by over 400 of Milwaukee's government, business and labor leaders, the productivity campaign was announced. It was of particular interest that evening to the Honorable Peter J. Brennan, Secretary of Labor, who was the featured speaker and who departed from his prepared remarks to commend both sides.
Milwaukee's news media, in editorials, unanimously praised the two groups:
• Milwaukee Sentinel "Some cynics might charge that you can't spend productivity. Perhaps not, literally. But increased worker output will result in lower total costs, reduced consumer prices and, ultimately, more contracts, more work days and more jobs. That translates into money in the bank for everyone."
• Milwaukee Journal "The decision to jointly sponsor a drive for greater productivity illustrates a growing maturity in labor-management relations in this local industry Productivity gains lie at the base of healthy economic growth. If employers are to pay higher wages that have any meaning in terms of real take-home pay for the worker, they must be offset by increases in productivity on the job. Otherwise higher labor costs will only drive up prices and fuel inflation. The worker, the employers and the public suffer."
Western Builder "If the push for productivity takes on the dimensions outlined at the Hart Hat dinner, the 8th annual gathering of management, labor and public officials should go on record as the best ever."
WTMJ-TV, Channel 4-"The simple fact that the employers and the unions admit things could be made better through cooperation is a victory for consumers. If this effort leads to real improvements in quality and productivity, it will constitute a landmark in labor-management relations. Hurray for both sides!"
(Continued on page 30)
8tor8
Skilled AFL-CIO Union Brick Masons are pledged to deliver eight hours of craftsmenship for eight hours of fair pay. EIGHT-FOR-EIGHT means that everyone wins the craftsmen, the builder and the owner. Building better to last longer, through cooperation and honest effort, is ever the goal of the construction industry of Greater Milwaukee.
You Can Trust AFL-CIO Union Skilled Craftsmen
The Construction Industry
of Greater Milwaukee
Typical of the ads being run in Milwaukee papers promoting the use of masonry in the 8 for 8 campaign.
masonry
July, 1973