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Greeting from the Big Apple, the “core” of the elevator business. It’s been a long time since I’ve had the opportunity to write an article for the Constructor. It’s a job that I’ve always enjoyed. Here are some important dates to mark on your calendars. The Local One picnic is being held on August 14th . If you need tickets or raffle tickets contact the union hall. The Labor Day parade is September 13th, the Saturday after Labor Day. It has always been a great day for solidarity so leave the date open. We are expecting a big turnout. Next month we will be posting the results of Local One’s General Election of Officers. Good luck to all.
Negotiations:
Local One’s negotiation team, with the help of all Local One members, is currently in the process of establishing resolutions that are important to making the lives of all our members and their families better.
For the toolbox topic of the month, I came across the following by an unknown author and found it to be worthwhile reading:
Who is this guy of lowly pay
With haggard look and hair of gray?
He gets no rest by day or night.
He’s always wrong. He’s never right.
He does not have a law degree,
But goes to bat for you and me.
Though seldom has he been to college,
He must possess the wildest knowledge,
Of labor grades and when to grieve,
Vacation pay and sickness leave.
Of overtime and who’s to do it,
Of coffee time and who’s to brew it.
The how and which and why and when,
And all the problems known to men.
If, with the foreman he agrees,
Then he’s a rat who’s got weak knees.
If, to the men he tries to cater,
He’s branded as an agitator.
The guy who has to take this slop
Is called the steward of your shop.
My hat goes off to all the Stewards for jobs well done. Management knows the steward is the Union members’ link to the Union on a daily basis. They often try to interfere with this responsibility by any means possible. We need to remember the steward is a front-line person in a support system that makes our Union work. This support system includes the Business Agents and President, goes to the International level, and then all the way to the AFL-CIO. The point of this topic is to reinforce support for your steward. Your support will make Local One stronger. Fred McCourt Jr., Ed Krull and myself have been leaning on the stewards more than ever. We feel they need to have more responsibilities to help strengthen Local One. The Business Agents support the Stewards 100%. And remember, a shop steward’s only reward is the satisfaction of helping others.
On the Organizing front:
We have established that the 15 Broad Street job is going to be the focus of the Building Construction Trades (BCT) efforts. This job is approximately 1 million square feet. As always Local One and its members have been standing tall to help out all the other trades. The BCT of NY have decided that if one trade is non-union on this project then all trades will be walking the picket line. Local One had the opportunity to be one of the only union trades on this project. We are hoping that our solidarity will help the rest of the BCT’s. Local One’s leadership has made it clear to the rest of the BCT’s of NY that we are willing to lead with an iron fist. Our actions and ideas will be militant! We know that all the contractors’ eyes are on this job so lets not let the result whet the employers’ taste for blood.
That’s it for now. Happy Fourth of July.
Work Safe and Stay
Interested,
Involved,
Informed
Lenny Legotte
VP/Business Agent
