Kenneth MacDougall, IBEW Local 380

Here are two facts that Kenneth MacDougall, the head of a suburban electricians' union, would readily admit:

Union labor costs more.

Union membership is eroding, although not in his local.

His antidote?

Highly disciplined, very well-trained workers who earn their higher pay by reliably providing an excellent day's work. And a union system that takes over every aspect of human resources management - benefit and retirement planning, workers' compensation, recruitment, training and discipline.

"We take care of all the HR. All they do is manage their business," said MacDougall, business manager and financial secretary of Local 380 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers in Collegeville.

Unlike some construction locals, Local 380 has a hiring hall. Companies call for workers and get those out of work the longest. They can keep those workers, or lay them off, or fire them despite seniority.

If a worker is fired for cause twice in a year, more training may be required or he may be disciplined, MacDougall, 49, said.

In 1998, after years as an journeyman electrician, MacDougall became a full-time paid organizer. Since then, membership has grown from about 575 to just under 1,000.

What is the key to being a successful organizer?

The key, in my mind, is to never accept "no." You're selling it, selling it, and selling it. To get that "yes," you've got to be willing to hear a hundred "nos." We grew our local. We grew our contractor base. We grew our market share.

I noticed you said, "grew our contractor base."

Well, it's important to bring people into your ranks. But it's also important to make sure that they have contractors to go work for.

How do you sell to management?

There's a shortage of skilled labor. Everyone knows that the IBEW trains. So for the contractors, the advantage is that they don't do any human resources. They go out and get [the work]. If they need people, they call here.

Is it a hard sell?

It all depends. The very first contractor that I ever signed, we did it sitting down on the drywall. No arguments, no problems. He's still flourishing today. Some take a little bit longer to sign.

The suburbs house many pharmaceutical firms. Does your union work for them?

Because we've been here for 30 or 40 years, we actually do have a special skill set. We know how they work. We know how they think. Someone who doesn't understand the day-to-day operation of a pharmaceutical company can actually terminate experiments that have been going on for 25 years.

That would be a problem.

It would. So we actually partnered with the pharmaceutical industry and asked our members to step up. We brought in a set of values much like a company mission statement - attitude, appearance and customer service. We're trying to break that stigma of the negative image of the construction worker. If we can achieve those values on any job, our skill level will speak for itself.

Your union relies on the pharmaceutical industry for a lot of work. Yet that sector is facing some challenges.

If the pharmaceuticals left, it would be devastating for us because there's so many people here. That's why I fight so much to try to help business and to understand that global picture. We're all in the same boat. I remember when I first met the people at Merck. They said: "What are you here for?" I said: "I want to know how I can make your facility more profitable." They just like looked at me - "are you from the union?"

And what did you say?

I said: "The more profit you make and the more successful we are at West Point, then the more capital they're going to give West Point to expand. We get more jobs. We all survive, we all win. One can't win without the other."

How did that go over?

I have a fabulous relationship with them.

Kenneth MacDougall.

49.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.

Father, in construction management, advised going into a trade union.

Electrician.

Business manager and financial secretary, IBEW Local 380, Collegeville.

Roxborough.

Worcester Township, Montgomery County.

Wife, Cheryl MacDougall, compliance officer; daughter, 11.

Reads business books and the Wall Street Journal.

Will string extension cords at home, but beyond that, “I pay a union contractor to do the work. I don’t have the time.”

Contact staff writer Jane M. Von Bergen at 215-854-2769 or

» READ MORE: jvonbergen@phillynews.com

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