Masonry Magazine April 2003 Page. 56
President's Message
continued from page 6
In national elections, less than 10,000 votes determined the control over the U.S. Congress. Clearly our industry's 17,000 contractors and 190,000 employees can have a say in who wins the next election and what issues will be voted on in Washington. By openly advocating our issues and mobilizing our industry we will gain the strength through advocacy to bring change to Washington that will ensure the survival of our industry.
The challenge will be great but we must remain diligent. For too long, our industry has lacked unity of purpose. Too many local mason contractor organizations remain uncommitted to the MCAA. Too many lack the vision of how strong our industry can truly be if we simply work together. Many remain focused on local issues and resist a direct alliance with the national association. As an industry, we must rise above this pettiness that divides us and work to bring our industry together under one umbrella-the umbrella of the MCAA. I call on every local association to support the MCAA to the fullest so we can advocate our industry's position in our nation's capital through the strength of a single purpose.
Masonry Industry Council
MCAA's commitment to unify the industry runs greater than just bringing together our contractors. We have been a driving force behind the emergence of the Masonry Industry Council, an industry board of directors whose purpose is to unite the actions of the industry to more effectively compete with alternate systems.
Through our urging, MIC conducted a two-day long-range strategic planning session where the officers of the MCAA, the National Concrete Masonry Association, the Brick Industry Association, the Portland Cement Association and the International Masonry Institute came together to map out a long range strategic plan for the entire masonry industry.
This was a tremendous first step toward putting an end to the divisiveness that has allowed our industry's competitors to flourish. While our efforts thus far are minimal, the mere fact that we are coming together to identify competitive issues is a strong step toward solving our industry's problems, now and in the future. Every journey begins with a first step, and we have taken a big first step.
Our New Association Home
For over twenty-five years, we have discussed the possibility of investing in our long-term future by owning our own headquarters. This past year, through the hard work of our staff and Board and through the generous contributions of our members and key chapters, we realized the dream of establishing a permanent home for our association in Schaumburg, Ill. Our new headquarters gives us the flexibility for growth while helping to ensure the long-term financial health of the MCAA.
Today, we are in the process of a major renovation of the interior of the headquarters that we believe will truly make it a showpiece for the association. In addition, our plans are to make our headquarters a hub of activity with association meetings and educational offerings.
Insuring Your Future
Of utmost concern for our association and that of our industry is to elect a pro-masonry Congress. While we have begun the long journey to being able to influence legislation and regulations coming out of Washington D.C., we must focus our efforts to helping those candidates that support our issues.
The MCAA became involved in this effort last fall when we helped candidates for the U.S. Senate, such as Jim Talent's bid for the Senate from Missouri and Norm Coleman's race for the Senate in Minnesota. Our support, financial as well as our get-out-the-vote efforts, helped these pro-masonry candidates win their Senate races.
Our goal these next two years is to raise nearly $100,000 for our political activities. Through MACPAC we will be able to help over one hundred candidates for federal office in the 2004 elections. Without a well-funded MACPAC, our efforts will be minimized and ineffective. We simply must insure that we have the resources to guarantee that a pro-masonry Congress will be elected.
Fighting for Favorable
Codes & Standards
While we have become very successful over the past several years in advancing the interests of our members in the code arena, we must remain diligent in our efforts in the future. Few areas are as volatile as the code arena. Our industry's competitors are constantly advancing code changes that seek to give a competitive advantage to their materials to the detriment of masonry. While we have effective full time staff representation, as contractors we must lend our support by attending code meetings to offer our testimony when code changes are considered.
Promoting the Use of Masonry
As mason contractors, we are in a unique position to promote masonry. We deal directly with owners and other masonry customers almost on a daily basis. We don't care what type of masonry our customers seek, we can install it all. Since we are in this unique position, it makes sense that our association takes a lead role in promoting our systems.
We have called on our Marketing and Education Chairmen to develop campaigns to promote a greater use of masonry. From the development of a national cost guide to a drastically expanded website, the MCAA is becoming a single source reference for our customers-a single source for education, technical assistance and knowledge on our system. For decades, our customers have expressed their frustration over how difficult and cumbersome it is to do business with masonry. By becoming a single source for our customers we will alleviate the barriers to specifying masonry.
Our promotional efforts are not limited to traditional methods for masonry promotion. As President of the MCAA, I am excited to report a brand new initiative that we are about to undertake that your Board of Directors believes will have staggering promotional success. The MCAA has been in negotiations with representative of the Construction Specifications Institute over a possible partnership between our trade shows. I am happy to report that beginning in April of 2005 MCAA and Masonry