Painters’ Corporate-Style Annual Reports Keep Union Growing
Over the past four years, Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) President James Williams has taken a page from the playbook of employers and the way they do business. Each year, his staff produces an annual report for the international union and for each of the 34 IUPAT district councils in the United States and Canada that looks like a corporate balance sheet.
Now, IUPAT leaders at all levels, from Williams on down, are thinking in terms of market share, annual reports and audits, and at the same time they are considering organizing and contract negotiations.
While other unions use similar formats, few are as detailed as the IUPAT reports. The annual reports measure everything from loss or gain in total membership to the ratio of apprentices to regular members, average age of members and apprentices, ratio of elected staff versus appointed staff, net assets and liquid reserves. The international union staff evaluates the reports and then works with the councils to build an action plan to correct weaknesses and build on strengths. The data also includes trends in the industry where members work so that contract negotiators can have the information they need to better bargain for contracts.
