(left to right) Gavin Lowe, Jozef Melaj, Keith Ledbetter, Sarah Pilarski, Deb Schneider, Mike Rogers, Matt Carr and Rep. Ron Robinson made up the panel for the July 31 roundtable.
For contractors in Southeast Michigan, decisions made in Lansing and Washington rarely stay there.
They reach jobsites. They influence the cost of doing business. They affect the availability of skilled workers, the projects coming to our region, the regulations employers navigate and the opportunities companies have to grow.
That is why having a seat at the table matters.
Throughout the summer, ABC Southeastern Michigan brought some of the most influential voices in state and national politics directly together with the contractors, business owners and industry leaders who are building Southeast Michigan.
The individual visits were noteworthy. Collectively, however, they tell a much bigger story about ABC SEMI’s role in ensuring the construction industry—and particularly the merit shop contractors of Southeast Michigan—has a voice in the conversations shaping its future.
“Frankly merit shop contractors haven’t had much say in policies that directly affect their businesses, and ability to grow and compete, despite them making up 90% of the construction industry in Michigan,” said ABC SEMI president & CEO Keith Ledbetter. “ABC SEMI is changing the way our members feel heard. We’ve built a facility that has attracted leaders and we’re putting our members right in front to be heard.”
That opportunity was on display on July 31, when senate candidate Mike Rogers joined construction and business leaders for an industry roundtable focused on building Michigan’s future.
Rather than a speech from a podium, the format created an opportunity for conversation. Contractors could talk directly about what they are experiencing in the market, what stands in the way of growth and what Southeast Michigan will need from its workforce to meet the opportunities ahead.
Those discussions matter in a region where construction intersects with nearly every major conversation about Michigan’s economic future.
John James’s election night party at ABC SEMI.
New manufacturing and technology investments, infrastructure improvements, energy demands, housing and commercial development all require one thing in common: people who can build them. And for ABC SEMI members, the ability to communicate that reality directly to current and prospective leaders is invaluable.
Just days later, ABC SEMI welcomed John James as he hosted his primary election night gathering on August 4, bringing more than 200 ABC SEMI members, community and business leaders, supporters and members of the public together to watch the results and ultimately celebrate his primary victory. The significance of the evening extended beyond the election results: James and his team reached out to ABC SEMI to host the event, choosing the organization as the place to mark an important moment in his campaign.
That decision reflected the relationships ABC SEMI has built and the growing recognition of the organization as a place where Southeast Michigan’s business, construction and community leaders come together—connections that ultimately strengthen ABC SEMI’s ability to give members a voice in the conversations and policy decisions that follow an election.
The conversations continued with MI-10 candidate Mike Bouchard, who participated in workforce development roundtables with industry leaders in August. Workforce development has become one of the defining issues facing Southeast Michigan contractors. Employers are competing for talent while preparing for an increasingly complex pipeline of projects across the region. At the same time, thousands of young people are making decisions about what comes after high school.
Gavin Lowe, Jozef Melaj, Andy Barnum, Keith Ledbetter, the Hon. Linda McMahon, Ashley Hayek, Sarah Pilarski, Sean Fisher and Mike Bouchard sat for a workforce roundtable discussion on August 28.
The Hon. Linda McMahon participated in a fireside chat hosted at ABC SEMI
ABC SEMI and Southeast Michigan Construction Academy sit directly at the intersection of those challenges and opportunities. That gives ABC SEMI members an important perspective to bring to policymakers: workforce development cannot simply be discussed as a statistic. Contractors know what positions they need to fill. They know which skills are in demand. They understand what it costs when positions remain open, and they see firsthand what happens when apprenticeship and skilled-trades education are treated as valuable pathways into successful careers.
Bouchard returned on August 18 for ABC SEMI’s Annual Member Picnic, where he had another opportunity to connect with the contractors and industry partners who make up the chapter. Members were also joined that day by the Honorable Doug Burgum, former governor of North Dakota and a key national leader in Washington, D.C.
When elected officials, candidates and national leaders sit across from ABC SEMI members, they hear from people responsible for payrolls, apprentices, multimillion-dollar projects and businesses that have often operated in Southeast Michigan for generations.
They hear what regulations look like when they reach a jobsite. They hear what a shortage of skilled workers means when a contractor is trying to staff a project. They hear what economic uncertainty means when a company is deciding whether to purchase equipment, hire another employee or pursue its next opportunity.
Those conversations put a Southeast Michigan perspective behind issues that can otherwise become numbers on a page.
“As a small business owner, my biggest concern right now is making sure we can keep work flowing so I can pay my guys and continue growing the business,” said White Light Electric owner Jozef Melaj. “We haven’t been around for very long, but I have big plans for my business. It’s important for me to be able to express that to the people whose policies can shut me down or allow me to do what I need to do for me and my team.”
On August 28, the conversation reached the federal level when ABC SEMI welcomed U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon during her Great American Comeback Tour.
Secretary McMahon participated in a roundtable with ABC SEMI President and CEO Keith Ledbetter and local business leaders before joining a fireside chat focused on education, workforce readiness and career pathways. For ABC SEMI and its members, the discussion was especially relevant.
The construction industry has spent years working to change the perception that a four-year college degree is the only path to a successful career. ABC contractors invest directly in apprenticeship, education and their employees because developing the skilled workforce Southeast Michigan needs cannot wait. Having the nation’s education leadership hear that perspective directly from the people employing and training that workforce brought an issue ABC members confront every day into a national policy conversation.
“Places like this matter,” said Secretary McMahon during the fireside chat at ABC SEMI. “The work ABC does to keep the skilled trades industry moving and growing is necessary work, and the conversation about students entering the skilled trades industry is one my team and I have regularly.”
The Hon. Doug Burgam speaks with ABC SEMI members at the member picnic in August.
One meeting alone will not change a policy. One roundtable will not solve the workforce shortage. And one election will not eliminate every challenge facing the construction industry.
But relationships matter. Conversations matter.
And making sure the construction industry is represented before decisions are made matters. That is where the cumulative impact of this summer becomes most significant for ABC SEMI members.
ABC’s advocacy work gives individual contractors a collective voice. A company that may never have the opportunity to sit down with a national leader on its own becomes part of an organization capable of bringing those leaders directly into conversations with the industry.
For Southeast Michigan contractors in particular, that representation is critical. This region is home to one of the country’s most important manufacturing economies and is entering a period filled with both tremendous opportunity and significant questions about workforce, energy, infrastructure and development. The policies surrounding those issues will help determine not only what gets built, but who gets the opportunity to build it and under what conditions.
(left to right) Keith Ledbetter, Frank DiPonio, Debbie Starke, Congressman Jim Jordan, Mike Bouchard, Deanna Morley and Maria D’Agostini Lukosavich participated in the panel on August 14.
ABC SEMI intends to make sure its members are part of those discussions.
“There is a lot of momentum we have going into the November election and beyond. Conversations will continue to happen, and ABC SEMI will be at the center of them,” Ledbetter said. The political landscape will change. Elections will be won and lost. New leaders will take office and new issues will emerge.
ABC SEMI’s responsibility to its members does not change with them.
