My Core Beliefs

I want to see Local 520 becomes an organization in which the purpose of the paid staff is to facilitate the wishes of an educated and engaged membership. Beyond this, below are the core beliefs that I keep in mind when I make decisions:

1. We are at war.

Our enemies are customers that are used to artificially low construction costs, unethical contractors that gain a competitive advantage by exploiting workers, and a political class that believes that society’s power should be in the hands of those with wealth. We fight by bringing all electricians into the union so we control the labor, by eliminating non-union contractors, and by electing pro-union politicians and holding them accountable.

2. All of our interactions with our contractors are negotiations.

Everything we do, from handling a grievance to improving our health benefits to raising wages is part of negotiations. Sometimes we have to fight, sometimes we have to compromise, and sometimes we have to let one go. In dealing with our contractors, I want to fix issues and make things better for our members. Sometimes a good relationship is the best way to get that done.

3. The better we are at our jobs, and the better union members we are, the more we can demand.

Nationwide, union labor is 14% more productive and 4% cheaper. We can do more with less because of our superior skill level. To man our work, we are bringing in a lot of electricians that are not educated in our way of doing things. We need to train these workers as quickly as possible, both in the school and on the job, to maintain our efficiency. This will help us drive the non-union out of the market.

We negotiate for wages at the table. We negotiate conditions between contracts. The better educated we are about our rights and the more willing we are to stand up for ourself and our coworkers on the job, the better our working lives will be.

4. Diversity and inclusion are the key to our future growth.

There is an unbelievable amount of work coming our way. The president of the National Association of Building Trades Union said that there are not enough human beings in America to do all of the work that’s in the pipeline. We cannot afford to exclude anyone from our ranks.