New York Organizing Strengthens
Union and Contractors

September 20, 2005 (Part 1 in a series)

When five IBEW locals in New York came together in 1995 to establish a coordinated organizing campaign targeting LaCorte EC&M, an Albany-based electrical contractor, no one imagined it would take seven years to achieve success.

Even further from their minds was that a victory with LaCorte would help sign a second large electrical contractor in the area. But, in 2002 LaCorte became a union signatory contractor.  Hudson Valley EC&M, a company that had a close business relationship with LaCorte, signed one year later.

Both signings marked the culmination of sharp battles between the IBEW and the contractors. Today, the field of battle has been transformed as LaCorte, Hudson Valley and the IBEW grow and prosper together, targeting not each other, but the marketplace.

"A lot of open shop contractors live under the misconception that the union will destroy them.   It hasn't been true here."

                                                Ralph Cioffi, Chief Operating Officer
                                                LaCorte EC&M
                                                Albany, New York

With increasing union market share in the construction industry as one of the IBEW's primary goals, LaCorte’s signing with Albany, New York, Local 236 and New City, New York, Local 363 is an unqualified success.

LaCorte's work force has grown from 83 members to 130. The firm, specializing in industrial construction, expects its market share to keep growing.

Don Rahm, Business Manager of Local 236,  credits Local 363 referral agent and former organizer Steve Rockafellow, with coordinating the efforts of five locals (see list below) to organize LaCorte.

Volunteer union organizers applied for work with LaCorte, overtly and covertly, throughout the organizing campaign.

“Salts” who gained employment touted the benefits of IBEW membership and gave advice on how employees could organize.

Unfair labor practice charges were filed with the NLRB protesting the company's interference with organizing activities, leading to hearings and settlements.

The IBEW constantly knocked heads with LaCorte, founded by a former member of New York IBEW Local 3, over the application of state prevailing wage laws. In 1999, when the company was placed on probation by the New York State Department of Labor for violations of the state’s prevailing wage laws, Rockafellow was assigned by the commissioner of labor to monitor the company's public work projects and act as a liaison between the company the DOL.

In 2001, the commissioner of labor determined that LaCorte had violated the terms of its probationary agreement and was barred from bidding on state public work for a period of five years.  

The IBEW immediately sought a meeting with Eileen LaCorte, who had taken over the business after the death of her husband, Kenneth, in 1998. The union convinced Ms. LaCorte that IBEW was her best vehicle to address training and staffing problems and build the company's customer base.  

"We battled with unions for years," says Ralph Cioffi, LaCorte's chief operating officer, who is now on the regional board of directors of the National Electrical Contractor's Association (NECA).  "It wasn't until the union walked in the door and told us how they could help us out, that it made sense to us."

"There's no template to tell you what you will go through when you sign," says Cioffi, who credits former Business Managers Tim Paley of Local 236, and Joe Maraia of Local 363, with easing the transition to the union shop. Since the signing gave the firm access to IBEW journeymen and apprentices, Cioffi says that he has been able to free up some managers who used to spend more of their time interviewing applicants to do other work.   He has also signed contracts with customers who deal exclusively with the union, work that was previously out of LaCorte's reach.  

While a few LaCorte employees decided against joining IBEW after the signing, most workers stayed on. Some had fears that they would lose their jobs or their year-round work opportunities. Their apprehensions eased as neither of those things happened.

Still, the union needed to convince many LaCorte workers that it is worth having long-term benefits such as pensions benefits, which IBEW veterans take for granted. While the wages of nonunion electricians and apprentices are typically lower than their IBEW counterparts, some had other perks such as paid vacations or trucks to take home with gasoline expenses provided.

Rahm says that it's the union's job to convince younger, unorganized electricians that planning for their future is even more important than the perks of the present. That was part of his message in several orientation meetings with LaCorte workers after the signing.

"When they call, I'll picket or do community service.

I love being a member of the IBEW." 

Joe DeCosta, recently graduated journeyman inside wireman, Local 363

When Hudson Valley EC&M, based in Highland, New York, 100 miles north of New York City, signed a letter of assent with Local 363 in 2003, the IBEW Journal described the event as a triumph of "persistence and determination." (See Journal Article)

The triumph endures as Hudson Valley Electric has expanded its workforce from 20 electricians before the signing to 53.

John Maraia, Local 363 Business Manager/Financial Secretary, said LaCorte and Hudson Valley were very friendly, at times sharing labor.   Friendships developed as their crews worked side-by-side.

When LaCorte signed with the union, Hudson Valley lost access to that firm's crews and had to go to the street for more workers.

Former Local 363 Business Manager Joe Maraia hired organizer Joe Sager to work exclusively on organizing Hudson Valley.  Sager coordinated hand-billing and community outreach efforts, visiting Hudson Valley worksites nearly every day for two years. “Local 363 never puts up a picket line and walks away," said Joe Maraia, attributing the Hudson Valley signing to that tenacious spirit.

Sager's efforts were aided by newly organized LaCorte workers who discussed the value of union affiliation with friends at Hudson Valley, breaking down some of their resistance to union rules and culture.  

The IBEW, says John Maraia, gave Hudson Valley availability to superior training programs and skilled workers, enhancing the company's ability to bid on jobs with advanced control systems, like sewer plants, as well as residential and Tele-data services.

All of Hudson Valley's workers, who had previously rejected opportunities to join IBEW, stayed after the signing. John Maraia says that 90 percent of them now attend union meetings, clam bakes, and other functions.   Many have walked picket lines in more recent battles.

Joe DeCosta had been working at Hudson Valley as an apprentice for three years, when the contractor was signed.   "I love being a member of the IBEW," he says.   Prior to the signing, Hudson Valley's rates of pay would change week-to-week.   Sometimes workers would be told to "hang out for a couple of weeks" until new work was lined up.   Now, says DeCosta, who just completed his apprenticeship, "I go down to the hall and sign the book."

"If they call me, I'll picket or do community service," says DeCosta, who regularly attends union meetings and has been part of the IBEW's contingent on walks to raise money for cancer and heart research.

The lesson, says John Maraia, is "don't give up on workers who keep rejecting you." he praises the support of veteran IBEW members in the surrounding community for helping convince nonunion workers to consider joining the union.

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