Southeast Michigan Contractors Issue 2 2022 5 50 YEAR ANNI VERSARY “We thought we had a deal in Detroit with a trade school on the west side during the initial planning process,” said Doug Cryderman, founder of Douglas Electric. “We were having really good conversations with them, but then someone tipped them off about who we were, and we couldn’t get them to return another phone call.” Cryderman continued saying they were in Oakland County evaluating next steps to provide training and found out the Oakland County supervisor had an injunction filed because the organization wasn’t a legitimate training organization. He noted that the politics were all stacked against ABC and the county just didn’t want them training because that was competition. “Somehow that injunction just went away. We followed the process to legitimize our training, but they took back the injunction, so we started training,” Cryderman said. Seven years later, in 1986, the Construction Education Trust, today known as the Southeast Michigan Construction Academy, started training a new generation of skilled workers and attracting new membership. ABC member efforts had paid off. “Everything was carrying on as planned,” said Acciavatti. “But then all our hard work almost disappeared.” Local government and finances posed a challenge for the chapter that halted growth and lead to a difficult conversation. “The Eastern Michigan chapter faced numerous challenges and pushback in 1980, and there was a conversation to disaffiliate as a chapter,” said Doug Curtis, vice president of chapter services at ABC National. “Fortunately, that didn’t last long.” Also at that time, the Saginaw Valley chapter requested the annexation of three counties in the thumb: Huron, Tuscola, and Sanilac. The restructured chapter filed with the Michigan Department of Commerce on November 5, 1981 and became ABC Southeastern Michigan. They had almost 150 members. From there, they chugged along helping promote the Merit Shop Philosophy until the recession began affecting the industry and the chapter in 2010. “Even ABC wasn’t immune from those tough economic times,” said Keith Ledbetter, president and CEO of ABC SEMI. “At one point, they thought to give the building back to the bank and call it quits.” The chapter was experiencing hardships due to increasing costs from the school that required chapter staff to make severe cuts, including lower monthly payments on the office and school building. According to past ABC SEMI Board minutes, several options were pursued to overcome these economic challenges, but as the days went on, the bills continued to pile up and bankruptcy was explored. “It’s not a glamourous history, but it’s our history,” Ledbetter said. “We were motivated hearing about the struggles, and it inspired today’s leadership to stay on top of the chapter to ensure its success for the sake of our members.” Ledbetter continued saying today the ABC building is fully paid off and the chapter has expanded exponentially since that board meeting. He also mentioned that ABC Southeastern Michigan is one of very few states that have achieved the labor reform trifecta: Prevailing Wage repeal, elimination of Project Labor Agreements on public projects, and Right to Work. “The values of ABC have allowed free enterprise and entrepreneurship to flourish as the backbone of our state and country,” Ledbetter said. Today, ABC Southeastern Michigan has 272 members in our community and counting, continuing the mission put before us by the six contractors who came together 50 years ago. “I am confident in where this chapter is at and where it’s headed,” said Chris Scott, president of Paul C. Scott Plumbing and current ABC Board chair. “The 50th anniversary is the perfect time to re-engage with the chapter and see how it can grow your business’s footprint.” A capture fromABC SEMI 1985 newsletter with Electrical I students being taught by Andy Radtke A capture fromABC SEMI 1985 newsletter with Carpentry I students being taught by Marty Inman
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