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Hello from New York & New Jersey,
September is here and it's time to get back to school. On behalf of Local One, I would like to say thank you to the many teachers, who take time out of their busy lives to educate hundreds of students in the apprenticeship program. We currently own two training facilities, one in Long Island City, New York and one in Perth Amboy, New Jersey, running about a dozen classes . The apprenticeship program improves every year, always changing to better suit the needs of the Brothers and Sisters enrolled in the program. Our goal is to give contractors and building managers no choice, if they want the most qualified people to do the job, they will have to come to us. Thanks to our education program, we meet that goal. Pictured below are the Perth Amboy building and one of the classrooms from the Long Island City facility.
By the time you read this article, Labor Day will have come and gone. Hopefully we all took some time during the long weekend to think about labor in this country and how fortunate we are that those that came before us fought so hard to give us what we have today. It is up to us to hold on to what we have and make things better for those who follow. Some time ago, I wrote about a temp agency (Labor Ready) that was sending out construction workers on a day labor bases, threatening the way of life of tradesmen and women in this country. Recently a judge in California approved a class action against Labor Ready. Labor Ready is being sued by its employees for not adhering to California labor law. The plaintiffs were granted class action status for unpaid wages, travel and return time and compensation for being charged for safety gloves. I am not a big fan of class action suits, but in this case it is not likely that a day labor is going to go to trial over a two dollar pair of gloves or for travel time. If you add up all the employees in this case, it comes out to somewhere in the neighborhood of 240,000 workers. That's right 240,000 day labors for one company doing every facet of construction work. That's a lot of gloves and travel time. I have not heard of any companies using Labor Ready for elevator installations, repair or service yet. How long do you think it will be before some contractor decides to buy a package elevator and hire people from one of these temp agencies to cut us and our employers out of the picture. The Building Trades will have to keep the pressure on these temp. companies using all means possible.
Political: September is the month that the political races begin to heat up. The importance of being politically aware of what is happening on a local, state and national level can not be over emphasized. Unions are becoming more important in the outcome of elections. This is a direct result of membership participation in the political process. We can not even come close to matching the money spent by those that oppose everything we support. We do, however, have something very valuable and that is our members. A member working for a candidate can be worth more than the money he or she contributes. Typically, a candidate is looking for a few hours one day or evening to work phone banks, hand out literature or maybe going door to door in your neighborhood explaining why you support them. The reward for your time is an elected official who will have to consider your position on issues you deem important. The consequences for not being involved is a deaf ear since you have no impact on whether they will be elected or not. Local One remains committed to being a part of the political process. The response of the membership in the 2000 elections was very good. We look forward to a continued commitment from the membership. As we do every year, we will make registration forms available to all our new members this month to ensure every member has a voice. The web site (www.iuec1.org) will have information regarding this years candidates and what you can do to help.
Congratulations go out to Sister Liz Nielsen. Liz married Kevin Ryan, a Local 608 carpenter on June 28th, 2002. Retirement will really be something to look forward to with those two union pensions.
Retiree's Corner: I would like to share a photo with you that was supplied by retired Brother Tom Macchia. The photo was taken at the 1971 convention in Miami.
Back Row: Joe Lediger, Jim Kennedy, Artie Bland, John Sullivan, Jack Wilson, George Koch, Pete Ward, Nick Clifford
Front Row: Karl Stork, Tom Connolly, Vinnie Watson, Tom McGoldrick, Tom Walsh, Tom Macchia.
Quote of the month:"He who says it cannot be done should get out of the way of the one who is doing it."- proverb
Fraternally,
Mike Duffy
Posted Online August 4, 2002
