From the Desk of Colin Johnson:
Happy New Year Brothers and Sisters. I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday season. For many people the coming of a new year is a time for reflection and optimism for the year to come. The past year still showed signs of pandemic recovery with many jobs still on hold or cancelled, but in the last couple of months work hours have started to pick up. Several delayed projects across Northern California have finally started up again, from casinos in the Valley to hospitals, jails, and residential buildings around the Bay.
Along with work becoming steadier, the local economy is slowly starting to recover with signs of life returning to downtowns San Jose, Oakland, Sacramento, and San Francisco. The Moscone Center in San Francisco hosted the APEC, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, conference earlier this fall. This massive convention hosted international leaders from across Asia as well as President Biden. The California School Board Association was also held in early December at Moscone Center West. Several representatives and I from Local 3 as well as our brothers from Local 4 Southern California attended the conference. This conference is held yearly and school board members from across the state attend. BAC had a booth set up alongside the International Masonry Institute to help educate these officials on why building with Brick and Block is a better way than continuing to use combustible materials, and to showcase and promote our apprenticeship programs in all our trades. We were also approached by many attendees inquiring how they can get trade education back into the school systems. The questions we received give me hope for the future, with districts supporting construction curriculums and the building trades. This increase in participation between the school districts and the building trades will continue to grow our workforce.
Now looking forward, the outlook for the New Year is very promising. The trades continue to do their part to stimulate the economy. A crucial way for everyone to contribute is by electing candidates who support labor. The State and Local Building Trades have already started to endorse candidates that support Project Labor Agreements and understand that using union labor produces the highest quality construction. Please visit the Local 3 website, bac3-ca.org, for a list of endorsed candidates in your area and let’s get out and vote for your paycheck.
I am very hopeful and optimistic about where the Building Trades are headed for the coming years and especially for our brothers and sisters of BAC Local 3. We will continue to organize and grow our Union. I wish you all a Happy New Year, and may it be a prosperous one!
Fraternally,
Colin Johnson