Congratulations to three of our contractor partners, E.L. Crawford, J.D. Bishop Construction and Loch Sand and Gravel, for their outstanding work with Local 579 members on what may be a record-setting curb job at Northwest Missouri State University. Here’s a story from the Maryville Forum on their efforts.

U.S. Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver II speaks to a Workforce Development meeting at the Laborers Local 264 union hall on Friday, May 11.

Rep. Emmanuel Cleaver praised the efforts of a Workforce Development task force and called on the minority community and organized labor to pull together.

Cleaver spoke to the task force Friday, May 11 at the Construction and General Laborers Local 264 union hall. Labor leaders and leaders from African-American churches from the Kansas City area held a fourth meeting in their effort to put young people from the inner city to work in the construction trades.

Cleaver noted that despite the fact that the nation is technically at full employment with the unemployment rate below 4 percent, many African-Americans are still struggling. He told the meeting that the unemployment rate among African-Americans is double the rate among White workers. He also pointed out that the minority community has to prepare itself. “We need people who are trained to do the work,“ he said.

The Workforce Development effort began earlier this year with the goal of uniting labor and the faith community to create a path to working for young members of the churches. To date, the effort has enrolled more than ten young men and women into apprenticeship programs with various construction trades.

Cleaver argued that minorities and labor organizations are natural allies. “Organized labor is the best means to break down the walls of discrimination,” he said.

Cleaver, a pastor himself, said the organized labor movement has its genesis in the Bible. “Moses was the first labor leader. No wages, no work. They walked,” he said to laughter and a chorus of “Amen!” from the gathering.

Cleaver concluded with a call to action. “We can be the most powerful entity in the nation. All we have to do is come together.”

The effort will come together again for a monthly meeting in June.

TRAINING: When you see a union laborer, you are seeing one of the best-trained, most skilled and most experienced laborers in the construction industry. Many of our members got their start as union laborers with apprenticeship training at the Laborers Training Center in Belton, MO.

It offers both classroom and hands-on instruction in every discipline a laborer will need to do the dozens of jobs they do. Here's a look at many of the important lessons laborers in Western Missouri and Kansas learn at our Belton Training Center.

Right to Work Hurts Missouri families is a YouTube channel which features the faces and voices of laborers, retirees, surviving spouses and family members sharing their stories of how the union has improved their lives. It also allows them to speak out against Right to Work and a repeal of Missouri’s prevailing wage. Please subscribe to the channel, and share the information with your family and friends to help us fight and win this battle.

Jeff Phillips, Laborers' Local 663 Communications Manager

After seeing a defense of right to work from an anti-labor spokesman printed in the Columbia Daily Tribune, our Communications and Outreach Manager, Jeff Phillips, fired back with a taste of the truth for readers in his old college town. Here’s his letter to the editor.

District Councils of the Midwest Region