MCAA Regional Report, Region E

Words: Mike Cook, Dick Dentinger, Mike Heitkamp, Lynn Vasquez, Maria Viteri, Scott Walkowicz, Mark Swanson, Darrell McMillian, Todd Schnatzmeyer, Pat Conway, Craig HinrichsIowa - No State Chair
Kansas - No State Chair
Minnesota - Dick Dentinger
Missouri - Mike Heitkamp
Nebraska - No State Chair
North Dakota - No State Chair
South Dakota - No State Chair

Workforce Development Activities

Minnesota

According to Mike Cook, president of the Bricklayers & Allied Craftworkers Local 1 of MN/ND, bricklayers hours worked totaled 1,681,221 in the first 10 months of 2014 compared to 1,527,643 in 2013. That is an increase of 10%. The number of bricklayers working in October 2013 totaled 1,395,000 which is up 1.86% from October 2012. The bricklayers are building their way back up, but they/we have a ways to go to get to the hours we had back in 2008 before the market crash.

While the workload forecast for some parts of Minnesota and neighboring North Dakota may have uncertainty, the Twin Cities market in particular shows signs of a continued steady stream of masonry work in the coming year. We are experiencing union workers on the oil fields and surrounding industries in North Dakota.

Cook stated that the improvement in the stock market has helped the bricklayer’s pension and health funds. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) has been a challenge for the Union Health Funds. The BAC has made changes to accommodate the mandates, but it has come at a cost to the members. Changes like those we have made with the BAC Health Fund are never easy to accept by the membership. Hopefully, the changes that we have made will better serve the members in the future. The bricklayers union will continue to
monitor the health plan and make the necessary changes so they can offer a plan that has good value to their members.

According to the apprenticeship coordinator for the Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 1 MN/ND Apprenticeship Training Center in St. Paul, MN, the Center has a busy year scheduled. They will be offering Apprentice and Journey level classes to its members, as well as, hosting workshops for high school students, and community non-profit organizations. The BAC Outreach Programs serve high school youth (general student population and at-risk youth; at-risk can be defined as economically at-risk, criminally at-risk, academically at-risk, and a number of other factors), community supported adult programs, and college level programs promoting BAC crafts. The new training center opened in Plymouth in September.

Journey level and Outreach Classes began this fall with 140 Apprentices. 102 of the 140 are actively participating at the Training Center. The remaining 38 are working towards completing their apprenticeship hours out of other statewide sites.

The Training Center has announced another University of Minnesota Architecture Masonry Workshop. This three credit program will be held in early 2015. The BAC, IMI, and MC&MCA have worked together to sponsor this program. The program continues to be one of the fastest-enrolled workshops at the U of M. The training center staff, along with Mark Swanson from the International Masonry Institute, will provide instructional staffing.

Missouri

The 2014-2015 bricklayers’ apprentice program began in September 2014 with 16 apprentices. Another 2 apprentices are scheduled to begin in the second semester, which starts in January 2015.

The St. Louis area is participating in a pilot pre-apprentice program called Building Union Diversity (“BUD”). BUD provides pre-apprenticeship skills training for minorities, women, and the long-term unemployed residents of the St. Louis region interested in pursuing one of the many available careers in construction. Training includes both classroom and shop training. Students spend a week in each of the participating union apprenticeship programs: bricklayers, carpenters, electricians, iron workers, laborers, operating engineers and the plumbers and pipefitters. The BUD program brings together a comprehensive network of participating joint labor-management construction skills training providers, St. Louis Agency of Training and Employment (“SLATE”), the St. Louis Building and Construction Trades Council and the Missouri Division of Workforce Development.

Economic Conditions / Forecasts

Minnesota

Masonry construction has improved greatly in 2014 in Minnesota! Our “unofficial” poll is our marketing contributions from contractors to the association based on bricklayers hours worked. The reporting of the hours and contributions are made on a trust relationship. We budgeted $10,000 for the year and through 10 months of 2014 we have realized just over $30,000 reflecting a major increase in bricklayer hours worked. Our construction growth has been triggered by the major remodeling of the State Capitol, a new state office building next to the Capitol, a new St. Paul baseball stadium, and a major new Vikings stadium in downtown Minneapolis. These four projects have fueled hundreds of jobs for bricklayers, cement masons, and laborers. The new Central Corridor transit system is up and running providing light rail service between St. Paul and Minneapolis. Our members realized some work on this project and more build out along the rail line is expected in terms of commercial and residential building. The Legislature passed a big bonding bill in the 2014 session for schools, public buildings, and more. The bonding bill also included additional dollars for roads, bridges, and light rail transit lines or bus systems. Residential construction in Minnesota for 2014 has been reported to be half the rate for 2013.

Missouri

As of August 2014, Missouri’s unemployment rate has improved to 6.3% compared to the region’s 2013 rate of 7.2%. However, Missouri is still above the nation’s 5.8% unemployment rate, according to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics

Bricklayer hours for the St. Louis area are 6% below last year at that time.

Commercial contractors are seeing a slight backlog of work, although the majority of projects are out of the St. Louis jurisdiction.

St. Louis City is benefiting from a multi-year and billion-dollar renewal project by BJC Hospital and the Washington University School of Medicine, who are jointly remaking much of the 16-block campus.

Masonry Marketing Activities

Minnesota

MC&MCA’s marketing efforts had a strong full year in 2014. Led by Marketing Director Craig Hinrichs, lunch time presentations promoting masonry products and workmanship were delivered to over 60 architectural firms across the state. AIA credits were provided as well as a working lunch to sweeten the deal! Our contractor members attended these meetings if possible. In addition, presentations were made to owners, developers, general contractors and schools in an effort to promote masonry construction industry in Minnesota. These efforts are being paid for through members’ dues and contributions.

Hinrichs has retired at the end of November and the search has begun for a new marketing director. That new person will either be employed as an employee, as Hinrichs was, or as an independent contractor. The new director is expected to be on line by January and will continue to deliver the six presentations developed by Hinrichs, as well as produce additional information to get in front of building decision makers. A new work plan will be developed and implemented for 2015.

The MC&MCA is active in the structural masonry promotional effort that involves the bricklayers, the IMI, Laborers, and LECET. This effort targets structural masonry engineers and engineering firms. The MC&MCA has four representatives on this Minnesota Masonry Coalition (MMC) which also includes four representatives from labor. Our marketing director and Mark Swanson of IMI work together through the MMC to coordinate additional promotion and marketing of masonry and union labor throughout Minnesota and the upper Midwest.

MC&MCA and other masonry management and laborers organizations feel strongly that the marketing and promotional efforts need to occur in both in a strong market and during slow economic times.

Missouri

The Masonry Society’s President Scott Walkowicz kicked off the 2014-2015 Masonry Institute of St. Louis (“MISL”) seminar series on September 23, 2014 by presenting an update to the newest version of TMS 402 Building Code Requirements for Masonry Structures and TMS 602 Specifications for Masonry Structures.

MISL’s 2014-2015 schedule includes:

Pat Conway (International Masonry Institute “IMI”): Masonry Movement Joints
Todd Schnatzmeyer (Indiana Limestone Institute): Indiana Limestone Design Specifications and Detailing
Maria Viteri (IMI): High Performance Masonry: Codes, Tools, and Constructability for Energy Performance
Darrell McMillian (Masonry Institute of St. Louis): “Dear Architect” Notes from the Mason Contractor; Masonry Engineering Then and Now; Basic Masonry Old and New
J. Gregg Borchelt (BIA, Retired): Specifying Brick Sculpture; Anchored Veneer Engineering
Eugene Mackey III (Mackey Mitchell Architects): St. Louis Heroes and Architecture
John Harris (CASCO): New Openings in Existing CMU Walls
Jason Thompson (National Concrete Masonry Association): Detailing Loadbearing Concrete Masonry
Phillip Shinn (Jacobs): International Existing Building Code Follow Up
Katie Pickardt (Hilti): Post-Installed Anchors and Masonry
Jim Buckley (Buckley Rumford Company): Masonry Chimneys, A Brief History of Style and Function
David Birenbaum (Engineered Inspections and Consulting Services): Existing Masonry Evaluation Case Studies

MISL reported that sponsorship of these weekly seminars were quickly snapped up by local mason contractors and area suppliers, since it provides affordable promotional exposure to 150-200 design professionals per session.

The MISL’s 17thth Annual Masonry New Products Show will be held at the St. Louis Masonry Center on February 10-11, 2015; mason contractors are targeted on the first day and then the exhibitors’ focus turns to the design professionals on the second day.

McMillian continues his trifecta of masonry marketing duties: in addition to providing technical assistance to contractors and design professionals and conducting educational programs on and off site, he serves as BIM-M Project Manager for Phase II, Project 4, Tasks 1-7 and serves on numerous industry committees such as The Masonry Society, where he is Vice President, the Masonry Alliance for Codes and Standards, Structural Engineers Association of Kansas and Missouri, etc.

The Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville (“SIU-E”) will be offering a Masonry Design course in the Fall 2015 semester, after the success of the Fall 2009, 2011 and 2013 offerings. The MISL and the Masonry Institute of Southern Illinois helped finance the initial 2009 course and it was so successful, the university was able to provide funding going forward.

McMillian was also proud to announce that the structural masonry course he pioneered over the last few years at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (Rolla) has been added to the permanent course catalog. Rolla has also added an advanced structural masonry course.

The MCA / OSHA Partnership continues to flourish, commencing its 10th year of existence. The 9 contractors in the partnership reach over 58% of all industry hours. The partnership’s DART (Days Away Restricted /Transferred Duties) has decreased from its revised baseline of 1.3 to 0.3 as of September 30, 2014, which easily beats the 2.1 national DART for the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Masonry NAICS Code 23814. The partners meet once a quarter with the OSHA Area Director and general contractor safety professionals to discuss best practices.

The newly formed Masonry Structural Coalition continues to meet with numerous contractors, owners and design teams in the Missouri and Illinois region to convince them that load-bearing masonry can meet their budgets and schedules, all while providing energy efficiency, durability, safety and aesthetic value to their projects. Masonry Institute of Southern Illinois Executive Director Lynn Vasquez, area mason contractors and suppliers participate in these business development meetings.

Competitors / Trends

Minnesota

Our competition continues to be precast. The battle grounds continue to be in big box stores and commercial buildings. Our masonry promotions efforts in Minnesota of working with architects, engineers, developers, and owners is to educate and inform decision makers as to the long term benefits of masonry products and union workmanship.

Missouri

Open Shop contractors continue to grow. The Bricklayers’ Union Local No. 1 of Missouri and the Eastern Missouri Laborers’ District Council have introduced market recovery programs, funded by increased union membership dues. Contractors must apply for these grants, subject to approval by the unions’ executive committees, and they can be applied to the hourly wage, material expenses or fringe benefit obligations.

Work continues to be lost to competing trades. Our agreement with the Eastern Missouri Laborers’ District Council was successfully renegotiated in March 2014 and the new wages allow greater flexibility to go head to head with our competition.

As work continues to be scarce, the line between residential and commercial mason contractors become more blurred, and many contractors are bidding jobs outside St. Louis area.

MCAA Regional Report, Region E

Workforce Development Activities

Minnesota

Missouri

Economic Conditions / Forecasts

Minnesota

Missouri

Masonry Marketing Activities

Minnesota

Missouri

Competitors / Trends

Minnesota

Missouri

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