CISCO is an acronym for the Construction Industry Service Corporation, a union labor-management cooperation committee serving union building trades and contractors. CISCO currently represents over 8,000 union contractors and 140,000 union construction workers. Where did CISCO come from? CISCO was founded in 1988 by the Executive Board of the Mid-America Regional Bargaining Association as a means to bring both sides of the industry together in a cooperative spirit. What does CISCO do? CISCO’s primary mission is to strengthen the unionized construction market in the greater Chicago area. In support of this mission, CISCO performs three major roles. CISCO acts as:
• a forum to facilitate dialogue between contractors and building trades union
leaders concerning mutual problems and concerns
• a clearinghouse for information on the local construction industry
• a promotional group to encourage union construction with the user community
and the general public
As a joint labor management organization, CISCO focuses on cooperative efforts to reduce problems and conflicts while enhancing the competitiveness of union construction. Through its activities, CISCO builds joint trust and commitment of local contractors and union labor to ensure high quality, on-time, within budget delivery on all projects. Currently, CISCO’s main programs are Education-to-Careers, Fair Contracting Outreach, and the Legislative Committee.
