Industry News

IT'S NOT TO EARLY TO THINK ABOUT NEXT YEAR!
Industry Notables Speaking at FCAI's Second Annual Midwest Regional
Union Finishing Contractors Conference
February 6-7, 2009 — Drury Lane — Oakbrook Terrace, IL

IUPAT General President James A. Williams began his apprenticeship as a union glazier in Philadelphia. He served in the infantry in Vietnam and was awarded two Bronze Stars, the Army Accommodation Medal and an Air Medal. Following the war, Williams completed his apprenticeship.
In the 1970s, he was elected President and Business Manager of his local union, where he served as Co-Chairman of their pension, annuity, health, welfare & vacation funds.

Williams then became a Business Agent for his state’s district council and was elected business manager/secretary-treasurer of the district council, serving on numerous boards. He was elected allied region General Vice President of IUPAT in 1994, a position he held until 1995, when he was appointed IUPAT General Secretary-Treasurer.

In 1999, he was elected General Secretary-Treasurer, holding the position of trustee on several pension funds, including the IUPAT Industry Pension Fund; Local Union, DC Pension Fund; and General Officers, Staff and Employees Retirement and Pension Fund. Williams was unanimously elected General President by the Union’s General Executive Board in 2003, and that same year, was appointed to the AFL-CIO’s Executive Council where he continues to serve on the finance, human rights and political committees.

And in 2004, Williams, four members of his executive board and 18 other IUPAT members from across the US and Canada, completed college degrees. Williams’ senior thesis, “Confessions of a Union Leader,' has been used in IUPAT leadership training.

Well respected by union and legislative leaders across the country, Williams attributes his unique sense of politics to his years of experience in Philadelphia ward politics in his youth.

Speaker, Training & Strategist Mark Breslin is returning by popular demand after bringing his unique and timeless message to a very appreciative audience at FCAI’s First Contractors Conference in 2008.

Breslin comes from four generations of contractors and has worked the trades himself, financing both high school and college educations. He has served as the Executive Director of the Engineering and Utility Contractors Association (EUCA) in California for 22 years and has been a negotiator, arbitration specialist and contractor advocate for the past 20+ years.

He has negotiated over 100 master agreements and has delivered presentations on labor-management relations to thousands of labor, management and rank and file union members across the US and Canada. His speaking engagements have taken him to over 500 audiences and brought his message of training and market strategies to well over 150,000 construction leaders and workers.

Breslin delivers his message in a blunt and uncompromising style. He’s loud and in-your-face with a message that makes sense to management and workers alike. Over 70,000 copies of his three books, “Organize or Die,” Survival of the Fittest,” and “Million Dollar Blue Collar,” have been sold. And this organization is honored to have had him as a regular contributing author to NiPDi’s Second Coat magazine.
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