Date Posted

The latest General Membership Meeting took place on January 13. Attendance is growing even under difficult circumstances. Updates include:

  • President Cleary wished a Happy New Year and Happy Chinese New Year to our brothers and sisters and reminded that Martin Luther King Jr. Day is a negotiated holiday.
     
  • Wage and Policy Meeting took place on January 12 to pick the 2022 Negotiating Committee. Joseph Magel, chair of the Committee, addressed the auditorium and urged members to send letters with comments and concerns to inform negotiations.
     
  • Educational and Cultural Trust Fund has sent out applications for the 74th Scholarship Awards. Applications are due by January 28, 2022.
     
  • Report on Pension Fund, Welfare Fund, and the health care costs of COVID-19.
     
  •  Vaccine mandate in New York City went into effect on December 27 and was upheld by Mayor Eric Adams. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled against the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard for "vax or test" for employees of employers of 100 employees or more except for health care. Regardless, the City’s mandates remain in effect.
     
  • Two safety incidents occurred on the job since the last General Membership Meeting on December 9, 2021. One member suffered 2nd-degree burns in an electrical accident that could have been avoided with proper use of PPE and one member suffered a stroke and remains in intensive care.
     
  • Dr. Partha Banerjee, instructor in the Critical Thinking course for over 12 years, retired at the end of the year.
     
  • Governor Kathy Hochul delivered the State of the State Address on January 5, outlining funding and programs for building new infrastructure, completing transportation projects, expanding the electrical grid and use of charging stations for vehicles, and creating good-paying union jobs in offshore wind and renewable energy.
     
  • Business Manager Erikson commented on affordable housing and that it should be built at a huge scale, funded by the City, and done by union labor. The need for affordable housing cannot be done by the private sector alone.
     
  • Fordham Landing mixed-use and residential development project in the Bronx will break ground soon. Developer Gary Segal was a union signatory contractor and is the son of a Local 3 member.
     
  • The latest Union World newspaper (available to members online) has important information. Read the Business Manager’s editorial, “Knowledge Is Power.”
     
  • Remember to call in any incidents on the job.

Construction Desk: Call Business Representative Richard Duva (718) 591-4000 Ext. 440

Discrimination Issues: Call Business Representative Ben Arana (718) 591-4000 Ext. 443

Sexual Harassment Issues: Call Business Representative Annette Diaz (718) 591-4000 Ext. 435

The next General Membership Meeting will take place on February 10.