Masonry Magazine April 1996 Page. 26
The past several years we have seen concrete walls, buildings built out of precast and tilt up rising across our country. It is unconscionable to believe that this threat is not being addressed by our national organizations. If any one of the Fortune 500 Corporations experienced this much of a market loss they would call an emergency Board of Directors Meeting and not adjourn until a market plan was developed. I call on all our national organizations to be united in meeting this threat by convening a Summit meeting at the earliest possible date. "Nero is fiddling while Rome burns". If any one thing could unite our industry it should be this external threat.
Since this is an election year-why not talk about politics? There is a saying that "if you are not politically active, you tend to be a victim of it." The voters in the last general election expressed their desire for less government in our lives, in our business and in our pocketbook. We are all tired of federal regulations which allow for subjective interpretations. Small businesses such as ours are hurt most financially by compliance requirements. Small businesses spend approximately 80% more ($5,400 vs. $3,500 per employee) to comply with federal/state regs than do large firms. We must all get involved personally by sending to our legislatures, letters/faxes needed to achieve our most pressing legislation and regulation reform objectives. Your MCAA is active politically on the national level, but we need your assistance at the grass roots level.
But with all these difficulties there are two challenges that loom over us which are far and above all others. I addressed one of them before--that being quality. For if we do not turn out a product that exceeds other competitive materials in value-we have greater problems. People forget how fast you did the job, but remember how well you did it. The other overriding challenge is our need for a skilled and well trained workforce. The greatest asset we have is our trained workers. Most of us own various amounts of equipment, which are replaceable by even more productive equipment. But, it is difficult and costly to train, retrain and replace our workforce. Our workforce is aging and retiring earlier and we are not replacing our workers at the same rate as attrition. The basic law of less producing less has to be faced. Common sense suggests that severe shortages will not serve our customers well. I cannot imagine how such shortages could ever benefit my business. This past year, we have seen this effect by owners designing around masonry on many projects throughout the country because of lack of available manpower. This is a tremendous challenge facing our industry. Your MCAA is addressing this challenge through promoting masonry careers, training curriculum, soliciting cooperative actions with all training groups and providing employment opportunities for all trainees and apprentices.
We won't meet this challenge overnight nor is there any quick fix, but with your support and commitment we will face our biggest challenge head on. I leave you with words that Abraham Lincoln spoke over 150 years ago-see how they still are pertinent not only to your personal life but also to your business and our country.
"You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot streng-then the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot help the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer.
You cannot further the brotherhood of man by encouraging class hatred.
You cannot help the poor by discouraging the rich.
You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away initiative and independence.
You cannot help men permanently by doing for them what they could and should do for themselves."
Our work awaits us, let us begin.- Donald Grant
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26 MASONRY MARCH/APRIL, 1996