CAUSE Receives FMCS Grant

LANHAM, MD November 9, 2004.  The Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service has awarded a $125,000 grant to CAUSE to develop and test recommendations on how to change perceptions of the mechanical industry and thereby improve recruitment of employees at all levels.

            The grant was effective October 1, 2004 and will run through March 31, 2006.  When it is finished, CAUSE will have produced an plan and a manual that will be shared with others in the industry nation-wide.

            To administer the many activities to be undertaken pursuant to the grant, the CAUSE Board of Trustees has lured Bernard Thornberg out of retirement.  Thornberg, the longtime training director for Local 602, will serve as Project Director.  He will be assisted by James C. Spencer, former training director of Local 5, who will be Education Consultant to the project.

            In addition, former CAUSE Chairman Carey Dove (M&M Welding) will serve as Financial Administrator for the grant team, MCA President John Dunleavy (Pierce Associates) and Executive Vice President Jeanne Lee will be the Project Evaluators and CAUSE advisor Jay Bryant will serve as the project’s Media Consultant.

            The FMCS awards approximately $1 million worth of grants nationally each year for a wide variety of projects involving labor-management relations, productivity and competitiveness, employment opportunity, economic development and other areas.  The $125,000 amount awarded to CAUSE is the maximum grant available.

            The project officially got underway on November 16 when Mr. Thornberg and Ms. Dove attended an orientation meeting for all 2004 grant recipients at the FMCS office in Washington.

            Two major activities have begun.  First, the project committee has begun information-gathering preliminary to developing a Strategic Response on ways to improve and enhance recruitment, training and employment in the industry.  Mr. Thornberg and Mr. Spencer have received concerns and suggestions from faculty members at the UA Mechanical Trades School, and a questionnaire has been sent to apprentices in both unions.  Once developed, the Strategic Response will form the basis for the manual and recommendations.

            Second, the development of a “Worker’s Emeritus” program is underway.  The concept for this program is that retired workers from both unions will be utilized to volunteer to go to local schools to teach students at all grade levels about the mechanical industry, the skills needed to work in the industry and the employment opportunities available.