Ray's article
uniondemocracy.org "Black labor must not only speak for the Black worker
but Black labor must be the voice speaking on behalf of all workers." I'd
like to suggest one area in which this excellent principle could be put into
actual practice, namely, in the construction trades where, I am convinced,
black and white cooperation could lead to progressive reform for all. I realize
that this idea may seem strange because, as we all know, blacks have suffered
egregious discrimination, above all in construction and still do. Nevertheless,
blacks have managed to win a secure foothold in many construction trades and
should be able to count upon moral and material support from the many blacks
who have already gained important points of power in the wider labor movement,
in both the AFL-CIO and Change to Win.
I refer to those blacks who have already won entry into
construction unions as full book members. But becoming a member of a union in
construction does not, definitely not, guarantee fair treatment in access to
work. Job discrimination is widespread in construction. Unlike manufacturing,
for example, where a union contract provides a measure of job security through
seniority rights, construction offers no seniority protection because jobs are
temporary. Even while building a road, digging a trench, or putting up a house,
a construction worker wonders where the next job will comes from when this one
is over. At that point, he (sometimes she) must apply for work once again, to a
contractor or at the hiring hall. At that point, almost all construction
workers are vulnerable. At that point, black construction workers, especially
black women, face the danger of discrimination most acutely; but the reality is
that all construction workers face a similar danger, whites less than blacks,
but they face it nevertheless. This is one of those big facts about
construction that never reaches outsiders but is common coin to insiders.
Former offensive lineman Marques Ogden knew that while he
was enjoying an NFL career playing football he needed a backup plan, he knew it
wouldn’t last for long. "I once read that 78 percent of athletes lose
their money about a year into retirement," says Ogden."That wasn't
going to be me. Football is such a short-lived career. It's not like baseball
where the money is guaranteed. If you don't prepare to do something every day
you could lose your fortune" – Ogden said in a 2011 interview with Business Insider
So a year before his 2007 retirement, Ogden founded Kayden
Premier Enterprises, a minority-owned, certified construction company based in
the Baltimore, Md., area that specializes in earthwork, concrete, site work,
site utilities, sediment and erosion control. In 2008 launched his construction
company, Kayden Premier Enterprises, in Baltimore with funds from the $2.5
million he had saved up as well as credit and home loans.
In 2009, the offensive tackle retired from football
following a back injury and saw his construction company’s first big project
success that same year. Ogden, 30 years old at the time found a business
partner in 72-year-old Arthur Pearlman. The combination of a former NFL player
with a 30-year veteran of the construction industry made for a powerful and
clever team.
After experiencing several years of steady growth since opening
doors for business in 2008, Ogden projected his 30-employee construction company
would have earning of $24 million in revenue by 2016. His first year in
business enjoyed small revenue of $450,000. In 2009, Kayden made $1.4 million,
but had a loss. The following year saw a profit with about $2.3 million in
revenue. In 2011, the company's projected revenue was $3.6 million to $3.8
million, with a profit.
In 2012 Kayden Premier Enterprises grew to about 50 to 60 employees;
however, the company didn’t ride that wave for long when Ogden assumed a problematic
multi-million dollar project in downtown Baltimore. Ogden says he never
received payment and was slapped with a $2 million bill for the 90 days his
company operated on the project. Ogden did his best to keep the company alive
with his personal funds, but ultimately filed for bankruptcy in 2013, and went
out of business. As a result, Ogden was left with a home foreclosure,
repossession of his two cars and terrible credit. Ogden later said:
“It was very depressing; I had become a statistic that I was
trying to avoid. I didn’t have lavish spending habits. I became a statistic
trying to save my business and that can happen to anyone.”
At his darkest point, the NFL came in and helped Ogden
restructure his life with a $14,000 grant. After almost losing everything,
Ogden redefined himself and became a motivational speaker and marketing leader,
helping to build others up to succeed. Through it all, Ogden dealt with his own
personal demons of drinking and gambling to make it regardless of obstacles
that were in his path. He wanted to inspire and encourage others, so he became
an author, he wrote the book ‘Sleepless Nights’.
In his inspirational book he details growing up in a single
parent home with a father that inspired perseverance and fairness. It was in
this household where Marques Ogden learned how to define his values and set
goals.
Ogden offers these five tips for anyone entering into the
business world and construction industry:
1. Always investigate your business partner
2. Get background and reference checks
3. Don’t grow too fast
4. Don’t be underfunded
5. Learn to walk away if needed
The Real Deal - Meet Don Peebles, the East Coast developer who has officially
arrived in L.A., and is doing so in a big way, building what will be one of the
tallest residential towers in the western U.S. Named ‘Angels Landing’, the site will include
two hotels – operated by SLS and Mondrian – 250 condos, 425 rental units,
retail, public space and a charter elementary school. The centerpiece tower
will rise 88 stories, making it one of the tallest and loftiest skyscrapers on
the West Coast.
THE NATION - As the birthplace of both the precursor to the
American Federation of Labor and the Congress of Industrial Organizations, now
the AFL-CIO, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is sometimes remembered as the cradle of
the American labor movement. But even unions can foster inequity, and did, a
fact that is crucial to remember as a new generation of workers embrace unions.
Nate Smith’s struggle for equality among union workers in Pittsburgh is a reminder:
Organizers like Smith had to break entrenched, protected barriers before
workers could achieve what they have today—and which we must also do for the
future. Smith’s ingenuity, persistence, and unflinching demand for the
integrity of all workers is the sort of spirit that should propel this work.
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About Nate Smith:
Born: February 23, 1929, Pittsburgh, PA
Military/Wartime Service: U.S. Navy, 1940-42.
Selected: Operation PUSH/Rainbow Coalition, executive board member; Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, volunteer; Western Hospital, consultant. Career: Local 66 of the Operating Engineers' Union, Pittsburgh, PA, heavy equipment operator, 1944-1960’s; Operation Dig, Pittsburgh, PA, founder, 1968-; Nate Smith Enterprises, Pittsburgh, PA, founder, 1969-
Life's Work
From lying in order to enter the navy at the age of 12 to boxing his way into the union at 16, Nate Smith proved that he knew how to get what he wanted. What he wanted in the mid-1960s was to break the color barriers in the construction industry in Pittsburgh. To do so, he laid down in front of bulldozers to stop work at construction sites. He also formed an innovative training program that was emulated nationwide. For his efforts he received death threats and beatings. But he got what he wanted. Not only in Pittsburgh, but across the country, construction unions opened up to blacks. Smith told Contemporary Black Biography (CBB) that he estimated that he helped some 2,000 people get union cards over the years. The New Pittsburgh Courier placed that number closer to 17,000. No matter the final figure, Smith's legacy lives on daily in the black workers who now have steady work at solid union wages. "He is why I'm here," a 21-year old African-American union worker told the New Pittsburgh Courier in 2004. "I'm not here because of what I did. I'm here because of what Nate did."
ENR - Recruitment bonuses are no longer solely the domain of
executive and professional-level positions at construction firms. As field
labor shortages become more pronounced across the U.S., cash incentives are increasingly
being used to lure experienced craftworkers as well.
“Signing bonuses are not new, but they are becoming more
prevalent,” says Jeff Robinson, president of compensation consulting firm PAS
Inc. Unlike the common practice of providing what he calls “mobilization pay”
to compensate for relocation costs, contractors now are offering one-time
bonuses ranging from a few hundred dollars to upwards of $1,500 per worker.
Black Enterprise - Black construction companies may reap a windfall from
helping build the Obama Presidential Center (OPC), a project that will cost
about $350 million.
Those businesses - the Presidential Partners consortium of
Powers & Sons Construction, UJAMAA Construction, Brown & Momen, and
Safeway Construction - are part of the Lakeside Alliance joint venture chosen
by the Obama Foundation to serve as the construction manager for the OPC to be
built on Chicago’s South Side. Turner Construction, one of the nation’s largest
construction managers, is part of the alliance.