Please join us as we bring our industry together to combat substance use disorder (SUD), advance suicide prevention efforts, and promote meaningful recovery and mental health resources across the union building trades community. Opening Night features a dynamic duo of speakers with incredibly powerful stories. We hope you will join us!

April 27 - Opening Night

Guest Speakers:

Kendrick Bourne Arizona Cardinals Wide Receiver and SUD Awareness Advocate

Kevin Hines Suicide Prevention Speaker & Advocate

4:00 PM at Ironworkers Local 7, 195 Old Colony Ave, Boston, MA 02127

March 23 - March 24 | 8:00 AM | Burlington Marriott

Developing Your Leadership Potential

Led by Dale Carnegie Master Trainer, Clark Merrill, this world-renowned course will focus on key leadership themes to provide tangible action items to better understand, develop and capitalize on your leadership competencies.

Only two spots left!

Thursday, March 26 | 8:00 AM | Westin Waltham

Crisis Communication

This course equips leaders and teams with practical communication strategies to protect organizational credibility when it matters most.

Wednesday, April 8 | 8:00 AM | Quincy Marriott

The Culture Shift

In The Culture Shift, Steve Thomas shows how leadership directly shapes workplace culture and how culture, in turn, shapes every result your company achieves.

Thursday, April 2 | 11:30 AM | Venezia

Built to Lead: Celebrating Women in Construction

Moderated by Attorney Miranda Jones, this dynamic panel will bring together respected industry leaders to share unique perspectives on key topics shaping our field.

Panelists include:

• Angie Simon, Founder of HSME and Western Allied Mechanical Advisor
• Amy Cannistraro, Project Manager at Cannistraro
• Usha Wood, President of Saugus Construction

Wednesday, April 22 | 3:00 PM | Trillium - Canton

Future Leaders, Future Proof Yourself with AI

This session is built for our emerging leaders who want practical skills they can use immediately, not theory. You’ll learn how AI is already impacting estimating, project management, and field operations. Join us for education, F&B and networking with peers.

Why this Commercial Real Estate Investor is Hitting the Breaks

For close to two decades, Jeff Kanne has invested several billions of dollars into real estate projects around Greater Boston. But with Mayor Wu entering a second term and statewide rent control on the ballot in November, Kanne says he’s hitting the pause button. Items like rent control, climate policies and permitting challenges are making his firm look elsewhere for positive return investments.

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Forgotten in Boston's Building Bust: Tradespeople Out of Work

Boston’s once epic building boom has gone bust, taking with it bustling construction sites, countless well-paying jobs and a whole lot of tax revenue. Out of Local 7’s 2.8K+ members, roughly 1K are out of work, up from practically nil just three or four years ago as the building boom of former Mayor Marty Walsh’s term was entering its final phase, Local 7 Business Agent Danny McWilliams said.

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Shapiro Identified Too Many Flaws in Failed Service Plaza Procurement

In a letter released to interim Transportation Secretary Eng, the State Inspector General stated the process was filled with flaws that "undermined the integrity of the process". In addition to inadequate conflict of interest protocols, the Inspector General found that MassDOT failed to follow some of its own procedures. Eng and MassDOT Undersecretary Jonathan Gulliver are scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Post Audit Committee about the highway service plaza procurement process on March 24.

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$110M Hotel is Coming to the Boston Seaport

Approved by Boston Zoning Officials this month, the 438-room hotel will be an addition to the current Aloft and Element properties near the Convention Center. The project is estimated to cost $110M to build, though it’s not clear when Lee Kennedy Co. will break ground.

Massport Releases $4.1B Capital Plan

The financial plan approved this month states Massport plans to spend $4.1B over the next 5 years with a key focus on ground transportation including the creation of Logan’s first-ever remote terminals and construction on parking garages at multiple offsite Logan Express locations.

MBTA Secures Labor Deal for Major Bridge Replacement

Announced at Ironworkers Local 7, the MBTA and Union Officials reached an agreement on a PLA to replace the North Station Draw Bridge, a project estimated at $1.2B, with more than $470M in federal funding. Estimated to create 15K union jobs, the project is in the procurement and contractor selection process.

BPDA Approves Wentworth Dorm Project

The BPDA officially gave Wentworth the green light for the construction of its 972-bed Pike Residence Hall. Wentworth agreed to pay at least $400K to the city in IMP as part of its deal for campus expansion.

LEGISLATION

H. 4994 - An Act Relative to Preparing Apprentices in the Commonwealth

The bill would apply to public works projects over $10M and require a minimum percentage of total trade hours to be performed by registered apprentices, with a stepped schedule commonly described as 5% initially, increasing to 10% and then 15% on an implementation timeline. Contractors would need participation in DAS-approved apprenticeship programs, with limited trade-specific exemptions. BTEA is monitoring this bill closely.

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Wu Backs Rent Control, Rejects City-Wide Rezoning

Mayor Wu announced her support for the November ballot question legalizing rent control, while rejecting the possibility of Cambridge-style rezoning to legalize denser housing in single-family districts. Wu split with Gov. Healey, who has stated her opposition to the rent control question, in backing the measure sponsored by the Homes for All MA coalition. It would cap rent annual rent increases at 5% or the annual change in the CPI, whichever is lower. 

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DHS Funding Bill Passes the House but Remains Stalled in Senate

The House passed a Department of Homeland Security Funding bill in a vote of 221 - 209 though the vote has since been blocked in the Senate prolonging a partial shutdown. Democrats have been demanding the White House reform its immigration enforcement tactics while Republicans look to move quickly citing the heightened threats to the homeland following joint U.S. and Iran strikes.

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FAST FACTS

• The union membership rate came in at 10% of U.S. wage and salary workers in 2025, remaining relatively unchanged from 9.9% in 2024.



• Mayor Wu announced the shared cost for renovating White Stadium has now risen to $190M, bringing the total shared cost to $325M, far greater than originally planned.

• Turner Construction reported $29.2B in revenue in 2025, a 40% increase from 2024 primarily propelled by data center work. Turner also shared that its project backlog grew 34% YOY to $44.3B, representing the highest year-end backlog in its history.



• Suffolk has hired industry veteran Clem Wood to lead their semiconductor division and Jon Davies has joined the company as its CMO.

• The Public Building Reform Board recommended, in a report released recently, that the Coast Guard Building in the Financial District be sold.

• Wall Street expected the U.S. to add 50K jobs in February, instead the report noted a loss of 92K, primarily driven by recent health care strikes.

• Brent crude, the international benchmark, topped $102 a barrel. Across the U.S., gas prices average $3.72, an increase of $0.72 since last month.



• The U.S. is considering implementing recently drafted regulations that would restrict AI chip exports to other countries.

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