Report of the MCAA Workforce Development Committee

Words: Calvin Brodie

Skills USA

The MCAA continues to support the work of the Skills USA and participate on the Masonry Technical Committee to sponsor and facilitate the national championships in Kansas City each June. The MCAA works with many other industry affiliates to make this program a success. Skills USA is considering sending the winners of this past year’s competitions to the international competition. A final decision on whether or not to proceed with this has not been determined, but should be within the next month or two.

Fastest Trowel on the Block Contest

This contest will be one of the highlights of the MCAA's convention at World of Concrete and World of Masonry. This year the committee has been represented by Quikrete, Hydro Mobile, Mortar Net and Spec Mix the key sponsors of the event. Steven Fechino from Wasco has also been a key part of the planning committee as has head judge Mike Sutter from Sutter Masonry. The committee continues to improve and advance the event through hours of planning which included updates to rules and judging criteria. This year 20 contestants will be competing. We have added several new features this year to the contest. All contestants will be identified in their booth’s with special booth id tags. They will match the contestants numbers on their shirts and in the program. We have added an eight page program featuring the contestants, the sponsors and the contest rules and scoring. A new stage for the awards presentation has been created and new awards for the winners have been developed. Plan to see even bigger additions and changes to next years contest.

Masonry Skills Challenge

Another contest that will be highlighted during the convention is the Masonry Skills Challenge. This year, 20 students will compete as first, second and third year apprentices, broken down to seven first year, six second year and seven third year competitors. The Masonry Skills Challenge also has a new award for the winners of each division as well as second and third place finishers. The MCAA also moved the skills challenge to Tuesday to kick-off the contests and has moved the skills challenge projects so that they could easily be seen throughout the Fastest Trowel competition. The workforce development committee has devoted a lot a time to coordinate this contest, as well. Project drawings, rules and judging criteria have all been updated for this year's contest. Project drawings have been drafted to fulfill several years of competitions thus alleviating the need to get new projects drawn each year.

MCAA Job Bulletin

The MCAA rolled out a new masonry job bulleting board to its web-site this fall. The site is administered by an outside vendor and MCAA will share in the revenue generated by the sales of job postings. In addition to employer’s being able to post opportunities, job seekers can post their resume and have employers search the database to find someone that fits their specific need. We expect the job bulletin to pick-up quite a bit when the economy rebounds.
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