Ryan Boyer, Business Manager of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, spoke with the Philadelphia Sunday SUN about building up Philadelphia’s construction industry, training the next generations of skilled and diverse workers through apprenticeships, and the need to stay engaged with political leaders who will support working people and unionized labor.

From the Philadelphia Sunday SUN:

SUN: When it comes to being the new head of the Building Trades, was it something that you wanted to do, or did someone have to talk you into it?

[Ryan Boyer]: I thought it was a responsibility. I felt that I was uniquely positioned with some of the relationships that I had, my age, my temperament; I just thought of it as a responsibility that we had to fill the spot. And it was a job that I thought was more of a responsibility than that [of] a want or desire.

SUN: So, when you say that you felt like this was a responsibility, was it a responsibility in terms of maintaining the status of unions in the city and what unions are able to do? When you say responsibility, what do you mean?

[Ryan Boyer]: Maintaining the whole labor union movement. It is the movement that has gotten me everything that I have in my life. So, I owe this movement everything. And I believe in paying workers a fair, honest wage. I believe in letting them work in dignity and letting them work safely. And the only way I think that you do that in the construction industry, is by being a member of a trade union.