Sprink, as a member of ABC, ABC is not a union for contractors. It is an association. Do you belong to AAA or does your grandma belong to AARP? It is the same thing. Here is a major difference to consider: ABC does not force contractors to pay a penalty to drop memberships or strip them of their retirement benefits if they join another association. Unions prevent union workers from working for nonunion employers (they will take away your pensions and fine you or kick you out of the union if you put your union card in your boot and moonlight to put food on the table – if you are enrolled in a union apprenticeship program, good luck getting out of it….).

There is more than one way to train a construction worker besides union apprenticeship programs. Employer and ABC training programs are effective too and they don’t limit apprentices to the good old boy network. It is all about MERIT.

Unions should be commended for their investment in their training programs, but that doesn’t give unions a license to use PLAs to cut out all of your competition. Besides, I’m aware of a number of union members that have not gone through union apprenticeship programs. And what about the nonunion workers that once belonged to a union and went through union apprenticeship programs but left because of the BS they had to deal with just to get a job. They are technically nonunion and have the same skill set as union members, so how are they magically more qualified to build projects and why should they be discriminated against via PLAs and other union efforts to limit competition?

Would you prevent a plumber from cleaning up tile displaced while fixing a leaky bathtub? Union work rules would because cleaning up and moving debris is the “job” of a laborer and not a plumber.

If a worker has multiple skill sets, especially for simple tasks, why not let them perform the work instead of having to hire multiple experts?

I also think you underestimate some of the employer-run training.

Finally, your fallacious analogy doesn’t work here. I wouldn’t want a nurse to perform triple bypass surgery either. But we are talking about construction. Why should a contractor, taxpayer or construction owner be forced to hire Michaelangelo to paint office walls or hire additional workers to sit around and perform simple tasks like moving equipment that anyone can perform, because of restrictive union work rules?

I would argue, further ‘employer-run training’ would provide them with no more skills than your average handyman that spends his days trolling craigslist.

Proper training would require further education in a state accredited school specific to a craft. Followed by proper amounts of on the job experience to truly become a multi craft professional. Provide the documentation and you have an argument.

I wouldn’t go into surgery with a nurse that learned how to do a triple bypass from standing next to and watching a doctor do one. According to you, if the hospital the nurse worked for considered that proper ‘employer-run training,’ well then he should be qualified to do surgeries.