A Message from Business Manager Chris Erikson
Chick Donahue is a New York City legend in the Labor Movement. A sandhog born and raised in Inwood, a tight knit neighborhood in Upper Manhattan where many Local 3 members came from as well. He wrote a book and now has produced a movie that tells the story of a community which had a unique sense of what it meant to care about their own. It reminds me about the values that we as Local 3 members have had ingrained in us as well. A lesson that we can all benefit from as our diverse community, the Local 3 family which we belong to, faces challenges to keep this union united and strong as we continue to grow and prosper.
Harry was all about community. He inherited that sense from his father and our other founders in another tight knit community, Hell's Kitchen on the West Side, who built this union and brought us to where we are today. The terms “brothers” and “sisters” mean something in a union that's more than words. It’s the bond of our common interests and values that we need to emulate everyday, to care, to help one another, to keep our organization strong, not only in Local 3 but across the IBEW. Helping those less fortunate was Harry’s mantra, and his union responded by organizing not just members into Local 3, but into so many other unions in New York City, thereby growing the Labor Movement because he cared about the working class and their ability to have a better life.
None of us can stand alone and prosper as we have as members of Local 3. We need each other. Harry reminded us that a worker has a little chance with a union and without one, no chance at all. Check out the movie, embrace the values and care for your brothers and sisters, and we will all continue to move forward together.
