A Message From Your MCAMW President

Happy New Year, 2023! The New Year brings about the excitement of change and the setting of new goals for the future. It is also a time for reflection and allows us to review what we accomplished in the previous year. While we haven’t detailed every play from last year, we have outlined some of the 2022 MCAMW highlights below.

The MCAMW worked diligently to encourage member participation and engagement throughout the year by offering various events, including membership meetings, educational programming, trade show exhibitions, and networking/committee events.

Legislatively the MD General Assembly convened to advocate for the prevailing wage for service contracts within the State of Maryland. Montgomery & Prince George’s County have also aligned with the state wage requirements and introduced prevailing wage on service contracts.

The Board of Directors, Industry Fund, CAUSE, and Local Unions all aligned on not only sharing the value of our membership and importance of engagement within the current core group of contractor members but also advocating beyond with the signatory contractors of Local 602 and Local 5. As we continue our campaign for outreach, we enter 2023 with 83 contractor members and 16 Associate members. Thank you to all members who continue to support the mission of the MCAMW.

We updated our Bylaws to allow for more trustees to serve in the leadership capacity of the Association. We reached a contractual agreement between Local 5 and Local 602 that all parties believe to be fair and further established stronger labor relations with our union partners. At our Strategic Planning Event in the fall, we also met with our Union Partners and the Mid-Atlantic Pipe Trades to identify barriers and opportunities to expand and partner. One of the main topics discussed was wage theft, worker misclassification, and what the Pipe Trades are doing to work against the practice.

We’ve seen our awareness campaigns in local high schools gain momentum within Montgomery County and Prince George’s County and will continue this partnership through 2023. This relationship grew from the participation of WE Bowers and the Maryland Chamber Foundation Teacher Externship Program. This is a four-week summer program designed to build bridges between Maryland companies and High School educators/counselors to gain hands-on experience in various local industries. The teachers and counselors bring this knowledge back to the schools and classrooms where they can empower students with the essential information and skills needed to begin a lucrative career path.

We’ve seen our participation within Student Chapters grow and become more active, gaining recognition on the national stage as ‘Chapter of the Year.’ Most notably, students are finding more internships and full-time employment with our contractors. CCI, our education initiative, continues to grow and thrive this year while serving over 475 students in various classes and enrichment programs.

It has truly been an honor to serve as the MCAMW President for 2022. I owe a huge debt of gratitude to the staff at the MCAMW, as well as our Members. They have supported our board/committee members by writing letters on legislative matters, attending events, and working to advance the unionization of the mechanical contracting industry.

Thank you all for this opportunity; I wish Mr. Chris Kelly and the MCAMW blessings for an exciting 2023.

Rudy Ford, CRW Mechanical, Inc. – 2022 MCA of Metropolitan Washington President