Masonry Magazine October 1997 Page. 38
When you are working on a school, contact the local Masonry Institute. They are eager to help, and ask them to contact the Superintendent of Schools. They will set up a program with your help and do all the details so the students can visit your job site and learn from you what it takes to do bricklaying.
"Our work force is very critical to our success and must be trained and educated, not as adversaries, but as team members and participate and secure a future for masonry (theirs and ours)."
Louis Rowley
How important is it to do this, to have a recruiting program? Todd Larson, masonry instructor at the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College (WITC) says "This is definitely a growing problem. Construction companies just can't find enough people to handle the demand." WITC is constructing an addition to their building as well as hiring an additional instructor. Larson says the median age of masons is 55 (Washington State's average is 47) and if something is not done to revive the interest in the profession, there will be an even greater shortage.
Louis Rowley, Executive Director of the Washington State conference of Mason Contractors says "Our work force is dwindling by 12% per year, higher with travelers, injured workers, and retires."2 Louis points out that we can't keep up with the market or our potential. So what do we do?
Rowley recommends that we concentrate on recruitment and retainage of apprentices along with training and education for our existing workers. How do we impact the community we work with? Barry Goldberg, President of Barry A. Goldberg and Company Structural Engineers, Skokie, Illinois says, "During the almost 35 years I have been in the practice of structural engineering, the profession (masonry) has undergone radical changes." Barry notes that the movement toward more efficient use of building materials has affected the masonry industry. Goldberg believes that while the engineers and architects have advanced masonry technology in the office, "we have left the mechanic in the field fiddling with his abacus."
Goldberg believes that we have not elevated the awareness and appreciation of the very people we charge and trust with its (masonry) execution. If this situation is not changed quickly, through the unions, the suppliers, the trade schools, and others responsible for educating brick masons, we can throw away the computer programs and bring back A4 1.1 Then the masonry industry will suffer the economic consequences that will result from this lack of action.
Editor's Note: Vivian Urban is a partner with her husband John in Urban Masonry Inc. a union mason contractor located in Lynden, Washington
References:
1. Louis Rowley. Cornerstone Newsletter, Washington State Conference of Mason Contractors, Volume 1, March 1997.
2. Louis Rowley. Comerstone Newsletter. Washington State Conference of Mason Contractors, Volume 1, March 1997.
3. Barry A. Goldberg. Better education of masons is needed immediately, Masonry Construction Magazine. Volume 10 No.4, The Aberdeen Group, April 1997.pp 172-173.
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