Ralph Oropeza, Business Manager of the Greater Kansas City Building & Construction Trades, and Dustin Himes, President/Secretary-Treasurer of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers Local 15, have both been named by Mayor Quinton Lucas to the Kansas City, MO Fairness in Construction Board. (FICB)
“I’m excited to welcome Dustin Himes and Ralph Oropeza to the Fairness in Construction Board,” said Mayor Quinton Lucas. “Both bring valuable experience to the table, and their appointments reflect our commitment to ensuring equity throughout our city’s construction industry. Ralph and Dustin are the kind of community-minded leaders who will help us build a stronger, fairer Kansas City.”
Ralph Oropeza, the son of Mexican immigrants and a brother from IBEW Local 124, has focused organized labor on the plight of undocumented workers who are frequently the victim of illegal contracting practices. Oropeza will be the main member to the board.
Dustin Himes joins Ralph as the alternate member representing organized labor on the board. The work that Local 15 members engage in is frequently threatened by bad or illegal contracting practices, so Himes will be familiar with many of the bad contracting tricks used.
“I am honored to assume this role on behalf of my brothers and sisters in labor and look forward to representing the interests of working people in our industry. We know that our unions have been dedicated to fighting for human rights and a level-playing field,” said Oropeza. “A special thanks to Mayor Quinton Lucas and his staff for their quick work to get labor back onto this board.”
The Fairness in Construction Board is intended to have two members from organized labor, one main and one alternate, but has not had a member since former Building Trades Business Manager Alise Martiny resigned from her position when she took a new role serving OPCMIA members as a vice president at the international level.
“It’s an honor and a privilege to be appointed to this board and I thank the mayor for this opportunity. I hope to bring in a new perspective and help to build a strong relationship between labor within the construction industry and the city,” said Dustin Himes. “ I look forward to representing the needs of not only BAC Local 15 members and our union brothers and sisters in the construction trades, but also those who have not yet been organized into a union and have had contractors abuse them.”
The City of Kansas City, MO has passed several measures, championed by Councilman Kevin O’Neill, that seek to root out bad contracting practices.
The board was established to oversee city construction bids, proposals and contracts, and incentive projects, in which the estimated cost thereof is more than $300,000.00. The board is quietly one of the most important in the city.
The board, as you might guess, oversees issues of legal fairness in the world of construction where tax payer dollars are used. They make determinations as to whether “good faith” efforts have been made and the assessment and amount of liquidated damages on incentive agency projects when the applicable agency and the director fail to mutually agree. The board overhears and investigates appeals from city bids, proposals and contracts under its jurisdiction and hear appeals regarding penalties imposed by the director for failure to pay prevailing wage or otherwise engaging in wage theft.
The Board is made up of eleven members and ten alternates, coming from a cross section of groups within the construction industry, with a specific focus on including minority groups. One member and one alternate comes from the Builders’ Association, the Heavy Constructors’ Association, Minority Contractors’ Association of Kansas City, the Kansas City Hispanic Association Contractors Enterprise, Inc., the Women Construction Owners and Executives and National Association of Women in Construction, the specialty contractors associations, the Associated Builders and Contractors, and local labor organizations and unions. Additionally, two members and two alternates can come from the Kansas City community at large. The chairperson is appointed by the mayor, but must be approved unanimously by the other board members.
The board, outside of Himes and Oropeza, is made up of Gabe Perez, Bridgette Williams, Joe Mabin, Raymond Malone, KC Borden, Karra McGreevy, Sonia Garapaty, Augie Huber, Lance Claiborne, Stacy Zerr, and Michele Roberts-Bauer.
Tristin Amezcua-Hogan is the Editor of The Labor Beacon and a member of LIUNA Local 264. Tristin also serves as the Director of Communications for the Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO and the Chair of the Kansas City Regional Transit Alliance.
Tristin grew up as the son of a UA Local 669 member in Tecumseh, KS and the great-nephew of George C. Amis, longtime leader of the United Rubberworkers (now USW Local 307) in Kansas. Growing up in rural Kansas as the child of teen parents, Tristin quickly came to appreciate the life-changing benefit of a union job.
Tristin and his partner, Rebeca Amezcua-Hogan, are residents of the Westside, Kansas City, MO's historic Mexican neighborhood. They are proud members of Kansas City's New Reform Temple.
