Mark Erlich is the Wertheim Fellow at The Center for Labor and a Just Economy at Harvard Law School and the retired Executive Secretary Treasurer of the New England Regional Council of Carpenters. This interview is based on his new book, The Way We Build: Restoring Dignity to Construction Work (University of Illinois Press, 2023).
JF: What led you to write The Way We Build?
ME: I spent over 40 years in the construction industry. I was a working carpenter, foreman, and superintendent. For the last 25 years of my career, I was an elected union leader until my retirement in 2017. I am also a writer on labor and politics. I know the industry well both as a participant and an observer. I have seen the world of construction change dramatically over those years and felt I had a unique perspective on that transformation. The Way We Build is my attempt to create a comprehensive picture of construction work – past, present, and future.
JF: In 2 sentences, what is the argument of The Way We Build?
ME: The construction trades once provided unionized craftsmen a route to the middle class and a sense of pride and dignity often denied other blue collar workers. Today, union members still earn wages and benefits that compare favorably to those of college graduates. But as union strength has declined over the last fifty years, a growing non-union sector offers lower compensation and more hazardous conditions, undermining the earlier tradition of upward mobility. Revitalization of the industry depends on unions shedding past racial and gender discriminatory practices, embracing organizing, diversity, and the new immigrant workforce, and preparing for technological changes.
JF: Why do we need to read The Way We Build?
ME: There is relatively little written about labor relations in construction compared to other major industries. I am hopeful that The Way We Build can fill that vacuum and offer readers a better understanding of a critically important industry.
JF: Why and when did you become an American historian?
ME: I am not a formal academic historian. I majored in history at Columbia University but, after graduating college in 1970, worked outside the academy. I am a widely published writer but a largely self-taught historian.
JF: What is your next project?
ME: I consider myself semi-retired and don’t anticipate embarking on another major book length writing project. But who knows?
JF: Thanks, Mark!