Building trades exterminate their rat
Protest symbol destroyed to emphasize greater accord with contractors
A huge, gray inflatable rat — red eyes blazing, rubber claws extended — has often appeared on picket lines set up by building and construction trades unions.
No more. Leaders of those unions, as well as heads of contractors they work with, cut up the deflated rubber rodent with scissors on Tuesday in Niagara Square. They said the gesture was meant to symbolize a break with tactics of the past and a shift toward more labor- management cooperation.
Labor leaders said the rat created a negative image for organized labor that they were eager to shed. The unions often displayed the inflatable creature to draw attention to work sites with non-union labor or strikes.
“I think many in this community would never have ever thought or believed the trades would ever be doing away with the rat,” said Michael McNally, a spokesman for the Buffalo Building and Construction Trades Council, whose members represent about 10,000 workers. “But this is happening and for good reason. The trades [council] believes we needed to make a public commitment to a new way of doing business.”
McNally, also the business manager of U. A. Plumbers & Steamfitters Local 22, said the council’s unions have worked over the past few years to strengthen relationships with their member contractors.
“The time for using such symbols that have focused a negative spotlight on the trades and our member unions has come to an end,” McNally said.
Laborers Local 210 signed a five-year contract with the Associated General Contractors of America’s Western New York Chapter and the local Council of Utility Contractors. Local 210 said it had never before had signed deals of that length with the two associations.
Hector Titus, executive director of the Council of Utility Contractors, said he welcomed the long-term deal.
“Finally labor and management in construction have realized that they’ve got work together, they’ve got to cooperate seriously,” Titus said. “They’ve got to come up with ways and means to secure the construction industry for union contractors and union tradesmen.”
Sam Capitano, business manager of Laborers Local 210, said the new approach is appropriate.
“Everyone here in Western New York, union or nonunion, is in the same community,” he said. “Everyone we deal with is either a potential client or a potential member. I don’t agree with the old ways of doing business.”
“I believe we’re all in the same community, all in the same family,” he said. “We all work together on many projects, union or nonunion. I just find it insulting to call our nonunion counterparts rats or scabs.”
Union and non-union contractors and workers already work on many Project Labor Agreements together, such as the joint schools construction project, he said.
“I don’t want anyone to misconstrue this as a sign of weakness,” Capitano said. “This is far from it. This is the new face of labor in Western New York, and we’re going in a proactive, positive direction.”
In another effort to boost its image, the Building and Construction Trades Council is about to launch a commercial on cable television highlighting the impact of its unions’ members on the local economy.
The council is also preparing for its annual Construction Career Days, which will be held in early October at the International Association of Operating Engineers Local 17’s training facility in the Town of Hamburg. More than 1,200 high school students are scheduled to attend.
