The Daily Reporter – WI Construction News & Bids Wisconsin's Construction Authority
Chris Mambu Rasch & Dan Bukiewicz
Industry leader and president of the Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council, Dan Bukiewicz, discusses Milwaukee’s workforce and the city’s building boom with Chris Mambu Rasch, executive director at Building Advantage. Chris and Dan dig into a number of topics affecting the union construction industry and discuss Milwaukee’s future.
Chris Mambu Rasch
Chris Mambu Rasch
Workforce, it’s the topic everybody is talking about. Since the pandemic hit, everyone is seeing a strain on workforce. Is the construction industry seeing that, and if so, how is the industry dealing with it?
Dan Bukiewicz
Everybody is dealing with it. For this industry, it’s convincing people just how valuable the trades are and what a great living it is to be a tradesperson these days. Apprenticeship is a true “earn and learn” education, so somebody can come into the trades and in a matter of three to five years, potentially have a career that’s paying them $80,000 and above with no student debt. The workforce pipelines are going to need to be enlarged going forward with our infrastructure aging the way it is in this country, but I think we’re doing a good job of supporting and promoting trades careers.
Chris Mambu Rasch
When you started at the Building Trades Council, what did supporting your members look like then compared to now?
Dan Bukiewicz
The difference was the urgency in filling pipelines with diverse candidates. It’s really become a center point here in the city of Milwaukee to build those pipelines for the underemployed, so they can enter the trades. There’s been more emphasis on the younger generation and recruiting requirements.
Chris Mambu Rasch
We have built-in RPP requirements now with city financing. What have you learned in the past few years and where are we at with trying to diversify the workforce in the construction industry?
Dan Bukiewicz
This all started at the Northwest Mutual project. It had a lot of requirements for RPP which are set by the City of Milwaukee for a residency program. And here at the trades, we embraced it because it’s the right thing to do. We needed appropriate programming, recruiting, and mentoring to get these pipelines where they need to be. We’ve been incredibly successful on all the jobs that we have had project labor agreements on or have been asked to help to meet those goals and requirements. We encourage everybody to voluntarily take some sort of percentage to open up those pipelines and lead underemployed people to careers in the trades. Milwaukee’s demographics are changing and I think we’re doing a good job of changing with it. Having the workforce look like its community is important and we’re really striving for that under Mayor Johnson’s leadership.
Chris Mambu Rasch
As a construction trade council, you’re making sure local projects get done, and that there’s plenty of work in the Milwaukee area. What do you think the future is for Milwaukee and the surrounding area in terms of projects and work?
Dan Bukiewicz
I think it’s bright. I mean interest rates are going to play a role, but we’re going to continue to build. We’re seeing a renaissance in Milwaukee as we change from more of a manufacturing town to an entertainment and cultural hub, like with the advent of Fiserv Forum and now the Wisconsin Center Expansion. When the Democratic National Convention chose Milwaukee, now it didn’t pan out exactly the way everybody had it sketched on paper, but I think it sent a large signal across the country: That Milwaukee is a player and the destination to be if you’re going to host a convention. We’re truly becoming a great alternative to bigger cities like Chicago. It pays to reinvest and double down in what you’re successful at doing, and that’s really recreating Milwaukee as a destination for the rest of the country.
Chris Mambu Rasch
There are several big projects happening in Milwaukee including the Couture. How are these projects going?
Dan Bukiewicz
Dan Bukiewicz
Very well, you know the Couture is coming out of the ground as we speak and it’ll really start picking up some steam come summer and fall as it reaches street level. It’s going to be a landmark project in Milwaukee, and it’s really going to change that entire intersection. The commercial center on the first few floors and the streetcar will connect even more people and commerce. You’re also going to see movement with the Lincoln Memorial Drive plan, Summerfest grounds, the Milwaukee County Public Museum and of course the Wisconsin Center District which is a statewide effort. There’s a lot happening that’s really going to sustain our growth and enrich the lives of everybody here.
Chris Mambu Rasch
How is the relationship between contractors and labor?
Dan Bukiewicz
This isn’t your father’s construction industry anymore. The unions and contractors work hand in hand. I think communication has improved greatly over the last 15-20 years. We’re always going to sit down and negotiate over wages and things of that nature, but when it comes to projects, there’s some real energy between us where we can talk to contractors about bids. If the bids are high, sometimes the unions can help through pension financing or apprenticeship ratios. It’s truly a partnership moving forward to help secure work. We’re really blessed that we have this labor-management organization we call Building Advantage here in Milwaukee. When labor and management come together, safe job sites and on-time, on-budget projects are the result.
Dan Bukiewicz has been president of the Milwaukee Building and Construction Trades Council for the past eight years. MBCTC is comprised of 16 local trade unions and district councils representing over 21 construction crafts.
Chris Mambu Rasch was recently appointed as executive director of Building Advantage, a labor-management organization serving Southeast Wisconsin’s commercial construction industry.
