It's always revealing to get an update on where the anti-union contractor group ABC is headed, since their direction is nearly always in the opposite direction of building trades unions.

The top priority on the 2002 agenda for the Associated Builders and Contractors is electing a friendly (read: Republican) majority in the U.S. Senate in order to further its legislative goals and expanding its membership base from 23,000.

So said Ken Adams, the association's national chairman, to theConstruction Labor Report. He said the ABC and its members are prepared to spend the resources necessary to get a "pro-free-enterprise" Senate elected. To do that, he said the ABC will probably spend more than $1 million and has targeted five races across the country where the association feels its money can make a difference. Democrats currently hold a slim one-seat advantage in the Senate.

Adams also said there needs to be a clarification of the term "merit shop," because people inside and outside of ABC assume that it means nonunion. "That was never the intent and it is not the intent," Adams said. "Merit shop means that bidding, awarding and performance of construction work should be done by the lowest costing, most qualified, responsible bidder regardless of union or nonunion affiliation."

Worker and contractor training will also an area of focus for the ABC, Adams told the Construction Labor Report. The association has expanded its training program for contractors and is developing competency-based training programs for workers. The ABC also offers contractors information on how to run their business, as well as training manuals on how to deal with a union organizing attempt and remain open shop.

As we mentioned, the direction of the ABC and building trades unions rarely go in the same direction:

• For all the ABC's talk about worker training, it is still woefully inadequate because their member contractors aren't willing to assume the enormous expense. As a result, many of their apprenticeship programs have had trouble getting federal Bureau of Apprenticeship certification.
• The ABC has fought union-only project labor agreements tooth and nail. The group pushes for "free" labor markets and battles prevailing wages laws wherever they exist. Contractors associated with the ABC have consistently pushed to keep wages low in order to keep profits up.

Then they contradict themselves. Former ABC leaders over the past year have acknowledged that low construction wages are pushing workers away from the industry and they have claimed that they are committing themselves to improving workers' wages and benefits. But the ABC's entire history completely rules out future collective bargaining with workers, and ABC contractors have also never been inclined to support government-induced wage standards.

So any wage and benefit increases will have to result from a massive change of operating standards by a contractor force that has rarely been able to look beyond short-term profits in favor of long-term workforce retention and improving the lot of workers. These leopards will have a difficult time changing their spots.

• Politically, electing the "pro-free-enterprise" Republican-controlled Senate sought by the ABC would help them cement their goals of eliminating prevailing wage laws, killing project labor agreements and lowering apprenticeship standards.

They're willing to spend more than $1 million on making sure their goals are realized. If you want to know where the ABC's sympathies lie, follow the money to the candidates they support. It's usually a pretty good indication that those candidates do not support the goals of building trades unions.