“ ‘we're Getting Our Country Back’: Reflections on Politics, Race, Labor and Community in the Age of Obama”. A Conversation With Mark Ayers, President, Building and Construction Trades Department (Afl‐cio)

Abstract

This is an expansive and wide-ranging "conversation" with Mark Ayers, President of the Building and Construction Trades Department (BCTD-AFL-CIO), a coalition of thirteen unions representing over two million workers in the construction industry. Edited from about one hundred pages of transcripts of interviews with Ayers conducted by Jeff Grabelsky, this conversation covers a variety of issues including: the implications for the labor movement of Obama's 2008 election; the opportunities arising during the Obama administration's first two years as well as the threats of the right wing backlash; the need for deeper and more authentic labor-community partnerships; the challenge of increasing the diversity of the unionized Building Trades; and, the dangers of global warming.Before becoming BCTD president, Mark Ayers was a union electrician, a local union business manager, an international union representative, and the director of the IBEW's Construction and Maintenance Department. He shares his experiences, perspectives, and vision for revitalizing the unionized construction industry in a remarkably candid and bold way. His underlying message is that the Building Trades unions can not re-establish their power and influence in the construction industry unless and until their leaders break free of outdated strategies that will be increasingly ineffectual in a rapidly changing political, economic, and social landscape.

Rebuilding the House of Labor: Unions and Worker Centers in the Residential Construction Industry

“…In December 2010, as the U.S. economy struggled to recover from the Great Recession, Working USA published an extended interview by Jeff Grabelsky with Mark Ayers, President of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor‐Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL‐CIO) (Grabelsky ). In this wide‐ranging interview, Ayers touched on issues concerning politics, the economy, and the revival of building trades unions.…”

“…[…] If we actively and effectively increase our diversity, it will only make us stronger. This is our chance” (Grabelsky , 550–1).…”

Black Power at Work: Community Control, Affirmative Action and the Construction Industry – Edited by David Goldberg and Trevor Griffey

“…Mark Ayers, the current president of the national building trades, has a fundamentally different orientation than the obstructionists of 50 years ago. ‘If we are a more diverse building trades, if we're more closely allied with community organizations that share our values, if we're opening up our ranks, that strengthens us,’ said Ayers in a recent interview (Grabelsky 2010).…”