Ken Bader, a 67-year member of Bricklayers & Allied Crafts (BAC) Local 1, Oregon, received the international union’s John B. Scola Outstanding Instructor Award for 2017.
The BAC Craft Awards are presented by the Bricklayers International Union every five years to recognize “the best of the best” examples of union craftsmanship and service to labor and/or the community. The program began in 1986.
The 2017 recipients were announced in October at the international union’s headquarters in Silver Spring, MD. The award was officially presented to Bader Dec. 4 at Local 1’s retiree holiday luncheon in Portland.
Bader, 87, was one of the first class of instructors certified by the International Masonry Institute (IMI). He spent over 40 years teaching the craft through the Bricklayers’ apprenticeship program, as well as IMI’s Job Corps program. And he didn’t limit himself to just bricklaying — he also learned and taught stone, marble, tile, and terrazzo.
Throughout his career he helped spread the growth of masonry, assisting numerous apprenticeship programs in improving their curriculum and recruitment goals.
He has served as an extraordinary role model to senior professionals, as well as being an inspiration to apprenticeship and labor staff at the beginning of their careers, said Matt Eleazer, president of BAC Local 1.
“You will never find another person like Brother Bader.” Eleazer stated. “Many people work to live but if you ask Ken, he lives to be a Bricklayer. Many times, he has told me that masonry is his life.”
The instructor award is named after the late training director and longtime New York Bricklayer union leader John B. Scola.
