Alise G. Martiny, the longtime Business Manager of the Greater Kansas City Building and Construction Trades Council, has accepted a role as a Vice President of the Operative Plasterers’ & Cement Masons’ International Association. (OPCMIA) In this role, Martiny is one of the highest ranking women in the history of building and construction trades unions in America. Martiny started with her tools in the field and rose the ranks into leadership through an unparalleled work ethic. She has been in her role since July 27th of 2012.

“My time spent serving the union members of Kansas City as the Business Manager for the Greater Kansas City Building and Construction Trades Council has been the opportunity of a lifetime. Looking back at our accomplishments these last eleven years, I am both proud of the work we accomplished together and of the condition I am leaving the Building Trades in,” said Alise Martiny. “This move is deeply bittersweet, but I am honored to take the position of Vice President at OPCMIA. I look forward to serving my fellow members from this new role and representing Kansas City.”

To call Martiny a hard worker would undersell the enormous impact she has had on the local labor community, which she devoted herself to in a manner that is simply without comparison. Martiny’s tenure at the head of the Kansas City Building Trades elevated labor at every turn, cementing the role of unions as civic leaders in the region. Her tenure saw union labor complete the largest single infrastructure project in the history of Kansas City, MO in the now-complete airport, as well as dozens of other major wins for organized construction workers.

Martiny is joined by Kansas City’s Kevin D. Sexton, the General President, on the OPCMIA General Executive Board. Both Martiny and Sexton entered the union through Local 518 and gained recognition at the international level through their significant contributions to the local labor community. OPCMIA Local 518 now makes up 25% of the General Executive Board of the union. The Operative Plasterers’ and Cement Masons’ International Association of the United States and Canada, almost one hundred and sixty years old, represents over 43,000 members across the United States and Canada. “We want to wish congratulations to Sister Alise Martiny on this huge move.

Martiny has been a member of Local 518 for over four decades, and we are better for it. We here at Local 518 do not believe that unions in Kansas City would be as strong as they are in this region without the significant contributions of Sister Martiny. We would have never come to the agreements we came to across so many construction projects that kept our membership working. We are so glad to have her working for the Plasters and Cement Masons again in this new role at the international level,” said OPCMIA Local 518 Business Manager Kevin Gard.
“This is an amazing move for OPCMIA. Alise will be greatly missed here as the leader of the building trades in the Kansas City area and a fixture of organized labor for the last two decades. I know she will still stay involved in a local scene and continue to uplift labor at every turn,” said Greater Kansas City AFL-CIO President Duke Dujakovich.
While there is no replacing Martiny, the Greater Kansas City Building and Construction Trades have already begun their search for a new Business Manager/Financial Secretary. Resumes for the position were accepted until Friday, February 10th. A new Business Manager/Financial Secretary will be recommended to the delegate body by the business managers of the member unions at the February delegate meeting, if everything goes according to plan.
“The Business Manager of the Building Trades is an extremely important role. Whoever takes that spot has huge shoes to fi ll. Alise has worked tirelessly for the last eleven years, giving every free second she has to better this organization. She absolutely deserves this position with the International and will do amazing things there, just as she did here,” said Greater Kansas City Building and Construction Trades Council President and Ironworkers Local 10 Business Manager Dave Coleman. “I have so deeply appreciated working with her over the last seven years. I respect the passion for working men and women that she brought to the table every single day she was in this role and will greatly miss her.”