The Labor Behind What America Builds

Author: Keith Wayne, CEO

Labor Day is one of those holidays that most of us recognize without giving much thought to what it really means.

For many Americans, it marks the unofficial end of summer, a long weekend, a cookout, or the beginning of football season. But the word Labor in Labor Day carries a much deeper meaning.

It is a day to recognize the men and women whose work has built this country. We should pause to remember the people whose contributions are often the least visible.

I am talking about our craft-level labor employees.

These are the men and women who show up before daylight, climb out of a truck, put on their PPE, and go to work. They move the dirt. They dig trenches. They place pipe. They prepare sites. They set forms, handle concrete, operate equipment, install utilities, build foundations, clean up after the work is complete, and perform countless other tasks that are essential to getting a project built.

They are often the first people on a job site and among the last to leave and normally take their lunch if not breakfast or dinner as well while sitting on their tailgate or gang box with their co-workers.

And yet, their contribution can be remarkably easy to overlook. Perhaps that is because the finished product hides so much of the work that went into creating it.

When someone drives down a newly constructed highway, walks into a new building, turns on the lights in a new facility, or moves into a new community, they see the finished product. They don’t see the thousands of hours of physical work that made it possible.

They don’t see the person standing in the bottom of the excavation. They don’t see the laborer guiding the pipe into place or the employee working through the heat, cold, mud and rain to make sure tomorrow’s work can begin.

But here at Wayne Brothers, we know that construction is ultimately a people business. Our people wear “Labor” with pride. Equipment has become remarkably sophisticated. Technology has transformed the way we estimate, schedule, survey, excavate and build. But technology does not replace the person who knows how to get the work done.

It takes people.  More specifically it takes “Tech, Tools and Trades” skilled people.

It takes experience. It takes judgment and it takes pride in workmanship.

That reality has become even more apparent as America enters another extraordinary period of construction and infrastructure investment.

Our nation’s infrastructure requires continual investment in roads, bridges, utilities, water systems, energy facilities and other essential infrastructure. At the same time, the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence and data centers is creating an entirely new generation of construction and infrastructure projects requirements.

Behind every one of those projects is a workforce.

Before the steel goes up, before the mechanical systems are installed, before the computers are turned on and before the facility becomes operational, somebody must prepare the ground and build the foundation upon which everything else depends.

That work is not glamorous, but it is fundamental.

And that is why I believe the word labor deserves to be spoken with respect.

There was a time when the term “laborer” might have been used dismissively—as though physical work required less intelligence, less skill or less value than work performed behind a desk.

Those of us who have spent our lives in construction know better.

A good construction laborer develops a tremendous amount of knowledge. He or she learns how materials behave, how equipment operates, how weather affects a job, how to read the ground, how to work safely around heavy equipment and how to anticipate problems before they become expensive mistakes.

This judgement can’t be taught, instead it is earned through years of experience. They know what good work looks like and take pride in doing it correctly.

They understand that the work they perform today becomes part of something that may still be standing or serving people decades from now.

That is a legacy worth recognizing.

As I look at the future of our industry, I am optimistic about the opportunities ahead for the American construction workforce. Our country will continue to need people who can build things. In fact, I believe the need for skilled, dependable craft employees will only become more important.

The challenge for our industry is to make sure the next generation understands that construction is not simply a job.

It can be a career.

It will provide a full and fruitful lifestyle, a sense of accomplishment, an opportunity to develop valuable skills and, perhaps most importantly, the satisfaction of looking at something that exists because you helped build it.

That is something no computer screen can provide in equal measure.

So, this Labor Day, I want to offer a sincere thank-you to the people who do the work.

To the laborers, the equipment operators, pipe crews, concrete crews, mechanics, foremen and superintendents.

To everyone who gets up every morning and puts their hands to the work of building America. You may not always receive the recognition you deserve. But the things you build are all around us. And for those of us at Wayne Brothers, we see you and we appreciate you.

And we are So Very Proud to build alongside you.

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