Construction Industry Gets No Respect
by Ron Kubitz
January 9, 2012
I’m going to start off this blog with the immortal words of
Rodney Dangerfield: “When I was a kid my parents moved a lot, but I always
found them.”
If Dangerfield thought
the going was tough when he was a kid, he may find the current conditions even
tougher. Today, with our country’s decaying infrastructure—in the form of
roads, bridges, water/sewer lines, etc.—Dangerfield would probably find it more
difficult to stay hot on his parents’ trail.
To paraphrase a poster that I have on my wall, “you can’t
drive to work, shower after jogging, call your mother, build your new house,
ride that bike, flush that toilet, dine out or see that football game … without
the construction worker.” So why is it that our construction livelihood and the
infrastructure that we build and support gets no respect from either the
politicians (funding) or the everyday folks that complain and moan about the
sorry state of the infrastructure, yet fight small gas tax or toll increases?
I live in Pennsylvania,
and our infrastructure is one of the worst in the country. Our governor has
identified this as an issue and even created a panel to study the problem and
make recommendations, only to so far ignore “his” panel and “their”
recommendations. In my opinion, he is more concerned with school vouchers,
liquor privatization and natural gas drilling, and he’s completely ignoring the
decaying infrastructure and its related problems, as well as the jobs being
lost by not working to restore the infrastructure. It also does not help that
the folks that whine and moan the loudest about the crummy infrastructure
oppose paying a few cents more at the pump (our state gas tax has been unchanged
for the past six years) or a few more pennies in daily tolls.
Late in October 2011, nonessential operations in some local Pittsburgh hospitals had
to be cancelled or delayed for a short while due to some water main breaks that
all happened in the same area. The hospitals were affected while a “patchwork”
solution was put in place.
Of course, we all know on the federal level that domestic
infrastructure is a low priority. The House and Senate versions of long-term transportation
and infrastructure legislation keep getting pushed back as they first consider
“must pass” legislation. Must pass??
The problem is that our industry very rarely looks for glory
and that is why we may be taken for granted. We do not routinely publicize our
successes and how lives are improved, and thus for the most part we are
ignored. However, it is now to the point that the American public cannot ignore
the plight of the construction industry and our infrastructure, and we must
lobby, educate and be vocal. Now is the time to strike, since in the past
months we have seen some job growth in construction, unemployment has been
dropping and most surveys show more folks think 2012 will be a better year for
our industry.
Be vocal with your politicians and your neighbors and strive
to make all citizens aware of the serious problems that we face if something is
not done now. Remember that respect is earned through hard work, and with no
pain there is no gain. What else can we do to gain the respect for our industry
and the infrastructure woes that we all face? What else can we do to show
others that we must follow in the footsteps of China,
India and other countries that are placing the
highest priority on infrastructure?
Ron Kubitz
Ron Kubitz is the recruiting manager for Brayman
Construction Corporation, located in Saxonburg,
Pa. As an accomplished presenter,
Ron is often sought after in regard to his expertise within the world of social
media.
Comments (4)Post a Comment
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Title: Respect
By: Mike Mccallion
Posted: January 10, 2012 8:14 AM
Yeah yeah blah blah...same old dribble. Not raising my taxes and we pay enough for gas.
Title: Respect
By: Tom Roberts
Posted: January 11, 2012 7:24 AM
I will gladly pay a few more dollars a year in gas tax or tolls in order to be able to keep my job as an Equipment Operator.
Pretty short sighted to think otherwise.
Title: Respect
By: Frank Jenkins
Posted: January 17, 2012 7:32 AM
Do not hear our industry being discussed much in the debates etc. AGC has an initiative going to shed more light on this topic and to lobby politicians
Title: Respect
By: Billy B.
Posted: January 25, 2012 7:45 AM
Tolls no!
Raise taxes no!
How to fund transportation? Take the $$ from Romney and the other millionaire politicians who do not pay their fair share in taxes...what a joke!