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The revelation of the $12,156 contribution from Affiliated
Construction Trades Ohio (ACT), a traditional Democratic
Party supporter, to Ohio Republican Governor John Kasich,
went over the heads of many and left others wagging their
heads in astonishment. Yet, this consensual mutual
manipulation among unlikely partners may not be as
freakadelic as it first appears.
Kasich, in a reelection year where he needs to coax people
out of their “revenge for SB5” mode, appears to be buddying
up with former enemies by throwing a lot of money at public
works and building projects.
The ACT, with an attitude of “as long as I’m getting paid I
don’t feel cheap,” is committed to putting its members to
work by using the relationship and resources of the
Republican governor even if it places itself crosswise with
other unions or members of the Democratic Party.
Of course, this is not the first time the coalition has had
a very different public agenda than that of its close
associates. There is an old joke about the Building Trades
Alliance, which says that they “will build a concentration
camp if they can obtain a Project Labor Agreement (PLA) to
do it.”
Perhaps the joke originated in the late 1990s when, while
running a negative PR campaign against the construction of
the Glendale Avenue WalMart and walking picket lines with
others, the unions in the Building Trades alliance were
simultaneously cutting their own back door deal.
When WalMart offered the group a PLA to provide the first
union-built WalMart in the country, the coalition’s mantra
flipped overnight from ‘WalMart is the devil” to “We love
WalMart!”
Nevertheless, the mega-grocery retailer abandoned the
relationship and left the alliance holding the bag after
only completing the building’s exterior shell, a mere
one-eighth of the total project.
The word on the street?
Some see the Building Trades’ Republican Party financial
support as hypocritical. “They (building trades alliance)
talk loudly about how you should boycott this or that place
because it wasn’t union-built or how you shouldn’t support
this or that candidate because of what they did or did not
do, but then they break off from other labor or democrats to
do their own thing,” remarked one local observer.
Others note the longstanding enmity between black
contractors and the building trades unions over matters of
inclusion and the absence of minorities.
Yet the lack of solidarity is not expected to provide Kasich
with either a material vote advantage or soft support from
any other unions or Democrats in the upcoming gubernatorial
election. “Democrats are still determined to do everything
they can to support Fitzgerald,” said one longtime insider.
My thoughts?
I
find the Building Trades actions profoundly instructive
given the black community’s fidelity to the labor movement
and true-hearted devotedness to the Democratic Party.
Affiliated Construction Trades Ohio, headed by Matt Szollosi,
was designed to advocate for policies, practices, programs
and construction projects that put their union workers to
work.
At a time when people of color are absent in decision-making
positions of power in city government and which there is a
visible lack of minority firms providing goods and services
or receiving contracting opportunities in Lucas County
government, the black community needs to take a cue from ACT
and re-evaluate its relationships as well.
If black leaders are to serve the African-American community
as well as the Building Trades serves their constituents, we
will have to:
1. Be Wary of Friends:
We have yet to develop the ability to discern who is best
able (and willing) to further the black community’s best
interests. Some politicians come among us smiling and
hugging, in the manner of old friends, but in reality have
no respect for the African-American community. Just how have
the “friends” of the black community been friendly to us?
They have not.
Also, “friends” often become complacent and take support
given to them for granted. Occasionally, they will
paternalistically dole out crumbs to desperate,
resource-starved organizations, but we need to return the
stank-eye for every insincere grin until resources make
their way into the black community more equitably.
2. Learn to Use Enemies:
While friends are often undercover rivals addicted to “haterade,”
enemies and other unlikely partners are an untapped gold
mine. When the relationship is based on mutual self-interest
and not contaminated by “feelings,” the community can profit
from even those whom we have wide ideological disagreement.
We just need to learn how to use them.
After all, using those whom we need to get the community
where it needs to go is “always business and never
personal.”
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org
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