Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

     The United Association of Plumbers & Pipefitters Local 230 is the oldest continuously operating local union in San Diego and still going strong. U.A. Local 230 has grown to include more than 1700 highly skilled men and women who are bound together by shared needs and a common purpose. Our membership offers a wide range of technical skills that are valued throughout the construction industry. Local 230 members are the piping professionals that provide the San Diego community with the complex piping systems that are responsible for potable water, sanitary systems, medical gas, heating, cooling, purity piping for the pharmaceutical and micro-electronic industries, along with an array of other services that help make San Diego a great city. 

      Let us take a moment to examine some of 20th century triumphs of the American worker and imagine being a Local 230 member during each period of time over the past 100 years. The early years of the Labor Movement were wrought with turmoil, strikes, and insurrection. The National Labor Relations Act of 1935 was the turning point for the Labor Movement. It is the foundation for current U.S. labor law and paved the way for union growth nationwide. This law granted unions the right to organize and obligated employers to bargain collectively with unions on hours, wages and other terms and conditions of employment. During the 1930’s, the nation was in the grip of economic depression. Fortunately, President Roosevelt undertook a number of programs designed to recharge the economy, feed the unemployed and restore worker confidence. Many labor unions took quick advantage of this new atmosphere and soon began to register spectacular gains in membership. The Committee on Industrial Organizations (ClO) was founded and provided the vision for what would become Labor’s core constituency, mass production workers. Soon production industries like steel, automobile, rubber textile and others surged in union membership.

      The growth in union strength throughout this period coupled with Roosevelt’s domestic programs, led to passage of a number of social programs long advocated by the labor movement. They included social security; unemployment compensation, worker’s compensation and federal minimum wage and hour law. Many historians point to the right of workers to organize for the creation of the middle classes we know it today.

     In 1955, one of our very own, George Meany, a U.A. Plumber, was elected as president to the newly merged AFL-CIO. President Meany embraced the traditional goals of labor like improving wages and working conditions. However, he added a new emphasis, which included organized labors’ involvement in local, state, national and international affairs. Meany was responsible for the development of COPE, the AFL-CIO’s Committee on Political Education, which brought to labor a more efficient and practical means of educating union members about the political process. The committees’ goals were as follows:

1.      To make workers aware of the records and promises of the candidates running for public office.

2.   To encourage workers to register and to vote.

3.   To endorse candidates at local, state, and national levels.

In the 1960’s labor, strongly supported The Civil Rights Act. The words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. illustrate the common bonds among labor and minority groups. He stated that “Our needs are identical with labor’s needs; decent wages, fair working conditions, livable housing, old age security, health and welfare measures, conditions in which families can prosper, educate their children and be respected in their community.” A key event of this period was the tragic death of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. King had gone to Memphis, Tennessee in 1968 to support striking city sanitation workers, who were represented by the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act ( OSHA ) was passed in 1970. The primary goal of OSHA was to provide for a safe workplace. It took almost a century to pass this first comprehensive federal legislation requiring employers to provide a workplace free from recognized hazards.

The air traffic controllers’ strike in 1981 illustrates the concerted attack all unions were confronted with at this time. Then President Ronald Reagan’s executive order replacing the striking air traffic controllers sent a horrific blow to all of organized labor.

Fortunately, the 1990’s became a decade of resurgence for the Labor Movement. With the election of President Clinton in 1992 and the election of John Sweeney as the new President of the AFL-CIO, organized Labor has seen an increase in their membership. Public support of the labor movement continues to grow. Organized Labor’s biggest challenge will be to illustrate to the public that labor continues to have a vital role to play in the economics of the 21st Century.

     Union members in California are beginning the new millennium on a high note. Because of your hard work to help elect Governor Gray Davis and a majority of the legislators in both the Senate and Assembly who are concerned about working people’s problems, several good things have happened. The reinstatement of overtime after 8 hours, workers compensation reform and laws regulating Apprenticeship programs have been strengthened. 

 Let me again encourage all Local 230 members and their families to register and vote in all elections from the President and Congress on the federal level to the City Councils and small district offices on the local level. Local 230 will once again call on our membership to support labor friendly candidates and elect those officials who understand the needs of working families. I will close with a quote from Thomas Jefferson, “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom”

 Fraternally Yours,

 

 

Kirk Crosswhite

 

 

Business Manager/Financial Secretary-Treasurer

If I can be of service to you please continue to visit our web site and address your electronic comments to me by clicking kirk@unionpipepros.org

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