When I became President of Local 1500 in December 2019, I thought I had a pretty good idea of all the things I needed to know. By that time, I was already a member of our Union for almost 30 years and had worked for the Local for more than 24. I had previously served our membership as an organizer, a membership servicing rep, a union rep, a field director, the assistant to the President and the Secretary-Treasurer. I had served as a benefit fund trustee for over 11 years. I had worked for 3 Union Presidents with incredibly different styles and under incredibly different circumstances. Over the course of my career I spent the equivalent of months away from home learning best practices at countless seminars run by our International Union and the area central labor bodies on countless topics. All that experience was great, but none fully prepared me to successfully lead our Union through the events that unfolded during the first 6 months as your President.
The bankruptcy and eventual liquidation of the “old Fairway” company started in January 2020, but that was a challenge that I was prepared for. Unfortunately, the A&P/Pathmark bankruptcies in 2012 and 2015 had already taught many of us at the Union what the bankruptcy rules and best tactics were. We also had a relationship with one of the best bankruptcy law firms in New York that would help us represent our members throughout the process. So, we immediately began preparations to protect our members and ensure we exhausted every opportunity to help them win. Not that workers ever really “win” in a bankruptcy court, but the results will always be better for workers represented by a Union than for those who aren’t. Please don’t mistake what I am saying, the simplest definition of a bankruptcy court is “a place where workers get screwed”. But as difficult as that bankruptcy was going to be, no one expected the pandemic that hit a few weeks after the filing. The whole world shut down in a blink and the bankruptcy proceedings had to shift from in person to virtual. What is zoom? How will this work? What are we supposed to do next? What is the Corona virus? How do we handle a bankruptcy proceeding with statewide quarantine and stay at home orders in place? What the heck did this mean for our members? Our leadership team had a lot to do, and we got it done.
As the first 6 months of 2020 passed many of the unknowns were erased and we had cleared all our new hurdles. Hundreds of new and unexpected problems were solved. We were one of the first organizations to find tons of PPE when others couldn’t and we arranged for truckloads of sanitizer to be brought to the Union office and distributed to your employers to help protect our members and keep your workplaces safer. We partnered with dozens of labor unions, elected officials, government agencies, vendor partners and friends to get our members to the front of the line if they wanted to be vaccinated. There were many difficult days, but our team absolutely crushed it for our members.
By the end of May 2020, the virtual Fairway bankruptcy proceedings had concluded, and the results were much more successful than we imagined they could be. What was proven again was that our success wasn’t because of any one of us, it was because of all of us. Our members, staff and leadership team worked tirelessly every day to find the best outcomes for that day’s problems. But those first 6-months taught all of us on your Union staff that it wasn’t just about working harder, it was about working harder together. I often joke with folks that Tony Speelman didn’t hand me a manual after I got sworn in that told me everything I needed to know to be President. There was no “Becoming a Union President for Dummies” book out there for me to read. Ironically, even if that book existed, it would only prepare you for maybe 2/3 of the job. I don’t know how you feel about it but if I was only able to do 2/3 of this job I would go down in our Union’s history as a disaster!
Obviously not every day as your President is difficult. There are days, like the annual scholarship awards breakfast when I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I get to shake the hands of the scholarship winners and talk with their families, which gives me an enormous sense of pride. Admittedly it takes a many people to raise the money to provide those scholarships and to put the event together, but I get the honor of presiding over it just because I am the President. Most of the other days where being your President is the easiest job on Earth surround overseeing our Union’s charitable efforts and attending our membership & fundraising events. Having that time away from the shops to interact with you and your families is something I hold dear. No matter how much time I spend with members on the job, it’s when we’re outside the traditional workplace that we really get to know each other. Some of you are like family to me, thousands of you have watched my daughter grow up, and many of you know my life story the same way I know yours. I wish there were more of those days and opportunities, but unfortunately as President the current environment just doesn’t allow for it.
Navigating the fine line between representing our members to the fullest, while not creating a competitive disadvantage too wide for your employers to successfully compete is by far the hardest part of the job. That involves successfully managing your $80 million dollar a year Welfare Fund, your $1.1 billion dollar pension fund & your $65 million dollar annuity fund. To do that successfully we need to work to keep monthly employer benefit costs under control while also making sure that your plans deliver you best in industry benefits that are there when you need them. Accomplishing this goal can also include leading the fight against anti-worker legislation or proactively trying to pass pro-worker legislation that broadens worker rights and membership protections. It all culminates with contract negotiations where maintaining the trust of our members while not destroying the bargaining relationships with your employers can at times be compared to squeezing a banana through the eye of a needle.
In the end the message I wish to convey is that there is no way for me to do my job successfully and make everybody happy at the same time. It might be easier to do if our industry wasn’t being invaded by predatory private equity firms or sprawled by non-union and discount operators opening at a faster pace than any other point in my career. It might be easier if the social and political climates in our world weren’t actively and continually dividing the members of our union. Maybe, but maybe not. Although this is by far the hardest job I’ve ever had, there are a few other things I’d like you to know: 1. I wouldn’t trade this job for any other in the world; 2. We have built one of the most diverse and capable Union staffs in the country to work for you; 3. We work our asses off for you every day and will continue to do so; 4. We are up for the next challenge, no matter what it is!
Thank you for the opportunity to be your President and thank you for your membership in our great Union. #OurUnionHasValue!