In the late 1990s, some areas in Michigan briefly flirted with a shortage of construction workers. In other areas of the country, the worker shortage was more severe, causing much hand-wringing in the owner and contractor communities about the lack of skilled workers.

In today's sickly construction economy, a worker shortage isn't much of a worry. But the AFL-CIO Building Trades Department is preparing for the future, and has begun a "North-South Mobility Initiative" to facilitate the movement of workers between the U.S. and Canada.

The building trades are looking to streamline the process of obtaining work visas by Canadian workers, whittling down the process from four to six months down to just several days. Plans call for visa applications to be handled in Washington, rather than locally, which should also simplify the process.

Building Trades Department President Edward Sullivan told the Construction Labor Report that many of the 400,000 Canadian building trades workers would like to cross the border to work, but find the visa process "hugely cumbersome and time consuming." Working with the White House, the Labor Department and the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Sullivan said he expects the new policy to be implemented this year.

Presumably, if work opportunities exceeds the supply of workers in Canada, similar arrangements will be made for American workers.

The organized construction industry is reaching out to the military services to find new members.

"Helmets to Hard hats" is the name of the program, wherein military veterans are offered a one-stop center where their military training can be credited toward apprenticeship or journeyman status. The first year of the program was funded by a $3.4 million federal grant.

Since the program started in December, 2,700 military personnel registered on the program's web site, www.helmetstohardhats.org

Another way the building trades will be attempting to make members more marketable to contractors -and make life a little easier for workers - is the use of the "Smart Card" program.

With the nation's 700,000-member construction workforce as transient as ever, the Building Trades Department listened to contractors and have come up with a system that places a workers' training and experience on a credit card. Workers going from job to job will have credentials to show that they have been safety trained and have been certified in specialty skills necessary for certain types of welding training or for nuclear facilities.

Employers will swipe the card, and information on cardholders will be available via the Internet through secure encryption and authentication methods.

Building Trades Department President Edward Sullivan said the trades will be approaching employers to determine whether a standardized system can be set up. Having the information on the card would immediately allow the employee to go to work, and would save employers from paying for redundant safety or specialized work training. Such a program could also lead to increased safety and training standardization among employers.

"The North American Contractors Association (NACA) fully endorses the Smart Card system and is committed to fostering its development in the unionized segment of the industry. The technology is here and it is time the industry adapts to it," said Ken Hedman of the North American Contractors Association.