Union Masonry Hits a Brick Wall

A week after negotiations broke off between the Mason Contractors Association of St. Louis (MCA) and Bricklayers Local 1, David Gillick, executive director of the MCA, is concerned about a lot more than ending the current strike. Gillick said that competition from alternative materials and from nonunion contractors are threatening the very existence of his members.

Tuesday the MCA issued the following media statement:

"After six hours of productive negotiations on Friday, the Mason Contractors Association of St. Louis ("MCA") was looking forward to finalizing the agreement on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 with Bricklayers' Union. MCA was therefore very disappointed that the Union leadership refused to meet more than five minutes on Tuesday, especially after the contractors once again had substantially modified their position.

"It is unfortunate that the Union leadership opted for a work stoppage, having the workforce sit at home when the opportunity to reach an agreement was at hand.

"Realizing that union contractors are the minority today, the MCA is asking that the new agreement reflect the current realities of the market place. This means that
the masonry industry needs to be flexible to compete with other materials, trades and non-union contractors.

"The contractors are highly aware that masonry is an optional building material and are willing to achieve what is best for the industry. They are asking the Union leadership to join in the fight for survival."

According to Gillick, in 2010 only 700 bricklayers who were able to get 250 hours of work per quarter. Between 1,000 and 1,100 were working in 2007 when the industry was at full tilt.

Gillick confirmed reports that the negotiating meeting with the Bricklayers lasted only five minutes. "After we have moved had our position on three issues, eliminated a work rule change, and moved 50 percent on the economics (from the previous offer), they walked out after five minutes and said 'Call us before seven o'clock'. We had all day to work on that proposal." The MCA released a side-by-side comparison of their initial May 9 proposal and the May 31 proposal that was rejected by the union

Gillick suspects that Bricklayers Business Manager Don Brown was strongly considering a strike entering negotiations. "We've got an industry to save here and they were staging a walkout. They probably had it staged for days or months in advance. At the first meeting something came up and (Brown) said, 'That's a strike issue.' On the very last day he felt that he was in danger of making a deal and had to get out of there. We're used to being disrespected by them, but walking after five minutes, I don't know what that says to their members," Gillick stated.

Local 1 has stated repeatedly that it will not discuss the strike in the media. Don Brown had not returned a call from CNR when this article was written.

The MCA has studied the effects of the construction downturn on their membership. "On the Bricklayers' website there are 112 contractors. Fourteen of those you can eliminate. I have a list at my desk of 71 non-union contractors. These are companies my members called me about because they are competing against them. In March, only 76 union contractors that reported hours worked." Gillick said that a search of state LLC registrations shows another 100 non-union brick contractors in Local 1's territory.

One of the work rule changes that the parties had apparently agreed on was the elimination of a requirement for corner poles in bearing block walls. Local 1 is reportedly the last bricklayers local in the country to have the corner pole requirement.

Webster University's $20 million School of Business and Technology is one of the largest projects affected by the Masonry strike. While that project will probably remain stalled until the strike is resolved, Gillick said that a Sam's Club project in Ferguson has found a nonunion contractor to do that masonry work and a WalMart in Kirkwood is also attempting to hire a nonunion masonry contractor.

"Union carpenters got an increase because they are still in-contract," Gillick stated. "Even with that increase, bricklayers are $2.14 above a commercial carpenter.

The industry is designing around us. We need help from the union to get our work back. We need flexibility to service our contractors. We need every hour we can get to lay brick.
"Ninety-five percent of our contractors work on the wall elbow-to-elbow with the men," Gillick said "It's not about how hard the work is or how skillful the workers. The issue at hand is that we've got an industry that continues to lose work. We've been losing work, we're not selling what we've got, now and they want to raise the price."

A week after negotiations after negotiations broke off between the Mason Contractors Association of St. Louis (MCA) and Bricklayers Local 1, David Gillick, executive director of the MCA, is concerned about a lot more than ending the current strike. Gillick said that competition from alternative materials and from nonunion contractors are threatening the very existence of his members.

Tuesday the MCA issued the following media statement:

"After six hours of productive negotiations on Friday, the Mason Contractors Association of St. Louis ("MCA") was looking forward to finalizing the agreement on Tuesday, May 31, 2011 with Bricklayers' Union. MCA was therefore very disappointed that the Union leadership refused to meet more than five minutes on Tuesday, especially after the contractors once again had substantially modified their position.

"It is unfortunate that the Union leadership opted for a work stoppage, having the workforce sit at home when the opportunity to reach an agreement was at hand.

"Realizing that union contractors are the minority today, the MCA is asking that the new agreement reflect the current realities of the market place. This means that
the masonry industry needs to be flexible to compete with other materials, trades and non-union contractors.

"The contractors are highly aware that masonry is an optional building material and are willing to achieve what is best for the industry. They are asking the Union
leadership to join in the fight for survival."

According to Gillick, in 2010 there were only 700 bricklayers who were able to get 250 hours of work per quarter. Between 1,000 and 1,000 were working in 2007 when the industry was at full tilt.

Gillick confirmed reports that the negotiating meeting with the Bricklayers lasted only five minues. "After we have moved had our position on three issues eliminated a work rule change and moved 50 percent on the economics (from the previous offer). they walked out after five minutes and said 'Call us before seven o'clock.'. We had all day to work on that proposal." The MCA released a side-by-side comparison of their intial May 9 proposal and the May 31 proposal that was rejected by the union

Gillick suspects that Bricklayers Business Manager Don Brown was strongly considering a strike entering negotiations. "We've got an industry to save here and they were staging a walkout. They probably had it staged for days or months in advance. At the first meeting something came up and (Brown) said 'That's a strike issue.' On the very last day he felt that he was in danger of making a deal and had to get out of there. We're used to being disrespected by them them, but walking after five minutes I don't know what that says to their members," Gillick stated.

Local 1 has stated repeatedly that it will not discuss the strike in the media. Don Brown had not returned a call from CNR when this article was written.

The MCA has studied the effects of the construction downturn on their membership. "On the Bricklayers' website there are 112 contractors. Fourteen of those you can eliminate. I have a list at my desk of 71 non-union contractors. These are companies my members called me about because they are competing against them. In March, only 76 union contractors that reported hours worked." Gillick said that a search of state LLC registrations shows another 100 non-union brick contractors in Local 1's territory.

One of the work rule changes that the parties had apparently agreed on was the elimination of a requirement for corner poles in bearing block walls. Local 1 is reportedly the last bricklayers local in the country to have the corner pole requirement.

Webster University's $20 million School of Business and Technology is one of the largest projects affected by the Masonry strike. While that project will probably remain stalled until the strike is resolved, Gillick said that a Sam's Club project in Ferguson has found a nonunion contractor to do that masonry work and a WalMart in Kirkwood is also attempting to hire a nonunion masonry contractor.

"Union carpenters got an increase because they are still in-contract, Gillicked stated. "Even with that increase, bricklayers are $2.14 above a commercial carpenter
The industry is designing around us. We need help from the union to get our work back. We need flexibility to service our contractors. We need every hour we can get to lay brick.

"Ninety-five percent of our contractors work on the wall elbow-to-elbow with the men," Gillick said "It's not about how hard the work is or how skillful the workers. The issue at hand is that we've got an industry that continues to lose work. We've been losing work, we're not selling what we've got, now and they want to raise the price."

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