Building Trades See Opportunity in Gulf Coast Rebuilding

from the ENGINEERING NEWS-RECORD:

workplace
LABOR
Building Trades See Opportunity in Gulf Coast Rebuilding 1/13/2006
By Angelle Bergeron
It’s not exactly business as usual when the president of the ironworkers’
union comes to New Orleans. But, then again, not much is business as usual
since Katrina hit on Aug. 29th.

“Everybody has been scrambling about what is going to happen with
reconstruction in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast area,” said Joseph Hunt
from his hotel room in New Orleans last week. He had just returned from a
meeting held at the Metairie, Louisiana office of the Plumbers, Marine and
Steamfitters Local 60, where representatives of all the area building
trades had been exchanging ideas about how to create a stronger presence in
the area.

Ed Sullivan, president of the Building Trades Dept. of the AFL-CIO, has
appointed a subcommittee to meet with local representatives and get their
input on how the union can best work with community groups and politicians
to train local people to meet labor demands.

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In New Orleans, where the population has sunk by about 300,000 since
Katrina, “Everybody knows there will be a vast shortage of workers, but the
question is what are we going to do about it,” Hunt said. “One of the
long-term goals of the building trades is hopefully to build a
community-based program so that we can recruit people who are from the area
to increase opportunities for them and, at the same time, expand the union
density and base of all the building trades in the area.”

It’s no secret that the building trades have a very weak presence (less
than 10%) in Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi. “All across the south, the
union density is a lot less than what it is in northern, traditionally more
industrialized states,” Hunt said. And nationwide, most unions have lost
members in recent years, he added.

Rebuilding the Gulf Coast is a union opportunity. “We are already seeing
what looks like exploitation of workers who have been imported in the area
with no benefits,” says Hunt. The building trades hope to provide a plan
that will benefit local or displaced local workers with good-paying jobs,
health benefits and pensions, while strengthening its ranks.

Even though much of the work is still in the cleanup phase, skilled workers
will be in demand in the very near future.

The committee is also hoping to ascertain the best methods to draw current
union members who are displaced and out of touch, as well as attract new
members to its apprentice programs and training schools. The committee will
present its findings January 17 in San Diego at a meeting of the building
trades presidents.

After touring the area, Hunt said he was surprised by what he saw. “When
you drive through neighborhoods and you see miles and miles of homes and
streets that are deserted, trash and debris everywhere, and it crosses all
economic lines... There are half million dollar homes completely vacant. We
drove all day, and it’s just amazing. Where are all the people? Where are
they living? Will they ever be able to come back?”

Hunt also drove along the Mississippi coast and saw slabs where houses
stood just a few months ago and barges that had been pushed by the storm
surge across the highway, crushing everything in their paths. “You don’t
understand the depth of it until you see it firsthand,” Hunt said.