Chairman's message: Progress and challenge

ABC-Mass. chapter's 40th anniversary year is proving to be both a productive and challenging one. During the recently completed legislative session, we succeeded in preventing exclusionary labor language and unfair apprenticeship mandates from being included in four major bond bills. These bills will govern how billions of state capital dollars will be spent over the next several years. The bond bills come on the heels of our collaboration with attorney general Martha Coakley and other industry groups to craft a fair and reasonable policy for enforcement of the Commonwealth's independent contractor law. Political activity is essential to our success. Much of this success stems from the strong bipartisan relationships we have developed in recent years. We appreciate our members' support for both the ABC political action committee and our agenda and thank those who hosted events for individual office holders. Numerous challenges still lie ahead. As with the independent contractor law, ABC has been working with the attorney general's office and industry groups on the development of an OSHA 10 advisory, which we expect within the next two months. We are also working to address inequities in new state apprenticeship policies. An effort is underway to educate state policy makers and opinion leaders on the importance of crafting policies that are fair to both the union and open shop sectors of the industry. Moving away from politics, the year has been successful on a number of other fronts. The addition of former Division of Apprenticeship Training director John Rich to our staff as director of Workforce Development, Standards and Compliance provides an important resource both in terms of working to create an even playing field within our industry and assisting members with compliance issues. And membership is strong. So far, we have signed up 79 new members this year. Staying on the leading edge of changes within the industry is critical to sustaining that membership. This year, we have launched committees on green construction, strategic alliances and diversity. Among the benefits the new committees have developed are the publication of a new associate members guide, a sell-out crowd at a sustainable/green dinner meeting earlier this year and new alliances with a number of related organizations. It's been an equally eventful year at the Gould Construction Institute. Together with Wentworth Institute, GCI successfully launched the first stage of a construction management program. Two LEED AP prep courses have sold out. This year's safety and training night saw 49 members receive awards. The George W. Gould Memorial Trust awarded 10 more scholarships, surpassing the $300,000 mark in total scholarships granted. Thus far, ABC-Mass. chapter's 40th anniversary year has been a busy and successful one. We thank you for your support and pledge to continue working hard on behalf of the members who make it all possible. Christopher Kenney is president of ABC-Mass. chapter, Burlington.