Roger Geisinger, AMBA Executive Director
Happy New Year to all from The AMBA Board of Directors! Entering a new year gives us all the opportunity to reflect on the past year and make plans for the coming year. The current economic climate in Alberta has been a difficult one. With two recent elections, we are likely to see more change ahead. There appear to be glimmers of hope for the energy sector with Trans Mountain and Energy East Pipeline construction progressing. Hopefully, this will motivate business owners to loosen the purse strings and start investing capital into new infrastructure.
As AMBA’s Executive Director, I would like to update you on some ongoing activities. Some time ago, the Board decided to investigate what a relationship might look like with the Metal Building Contractors & Erectors Association (MBCEA). They are a US-based organization that mirrors what AMBA does, but on a US-wide basis. Currently, they have over 450 member companies scattered across the US. In areas with enough members, they have their own Chapters. Their priorities are very similar to AMBA’s: they focus heavily on worker skills training, safety training, and trying to raise industry standards by working with different government jurisdictions. To date, we have had several conversations with them. Last spring, Chairman John Weran and I attended their National conference in Myrtle Beach. It was a very well organized event and structured similar to meetings hosted by some of the larger metal building manufacturers. Various meetings were scheduled – presenters spoke on a wide range of topics of interest to the contractors present. There were many industry suppliers in attendance and overall very good interaction.
The MBCEA would like AMBA to become members and a Chapter. After much discussion at the Board level a few things were determined:
AMBA does not want to give up its current name and independence.
Becoming an MBCEA chapter would require us to pay dues to the US organization and would weaken our financial resources.
While MBCEA has a very similar focus to AMBA there exist many differences. For starters, in Alberta, we have provincial requirements that clearly outline what the mandatory training requirements are for metal building erection. We already have in place a government-funded industry advised apprenticeship system that functions pretty well. Our safety standards are legislated by the province and the safety training required by workers is now widely understood and available across the province.
The MBCEA is an excellent organization, but it was decided by the Board that joining them as members were not in the best interest of AMBA. This does not mean that we are not interested in a long-term relationship with them! We are going to pursue an ongoing dialogue with them to see what that relationship might mean in the long-term!