Local 94

Local 94 Thrives As We Head Into Election Season

Brothers and Sisters,

We last reached out to you back in the winter, and now we are entering autumn. We hope we find you in good health and spirits.

Local 94 has been making great strides. Since the pandemic, we have welcomed 300 new members to our family. While we do have members retiring, nobody is getting laid off. We are once again demonstrating that the everyday person sees the fight for a better workplace as a necessary one.

Though there has not been much reporting on it, the commercial real estate conversion to residential has shown notable success. We continue to make it a priority that every working person has a home to come back to at the end of the day.

Purpose of the PAC

Since creating the PAC fund, we have been able to support candidates and elected officials who have our best interests in mind. In turn, we also get to sit at the table at City Hall to have our voices heard in discussions on the pros and cons of legislation impacting our industry.

We are at the table for any discussion that pertains to changes to the fire and building codes, and those do not happen without Local 94’s input. The PAC fund won a massive salary increase for school workers during the DeBlasio administration.

The PAC Fund is give and return. If you do not support the PAC Fund, you and your family’s livelihoods and futures are at stake.

Understanding Your Vote

Election season is right around the corner. There are some things I hope you consider when you go to the polls this November. And go to the polls you must.

During the last Republican administration, unions were pummeled. Eugene Scalia, the Secretary of Labor (2019- 2021) was a union busting lawyer who defended Cablevision’s firing of 22 workers while they were trying to win a contract with CWA. This action led to the National Labor Relations Board being stacked with anti-union appointees who actively stalled on union elections.

The last administration also packed our courts with anti-union judges who supported right-to-work laws, making organizing that much more difficult, and led to many states reintroducing child labor to the nation. Having kids mopping the floors of industrial factories should not happen in a nation considered a superpower. The last administration also outsourced $115 billion to offshore work, and they pushed for a corporate tax cut bill giving companies a 50% tax break on their foreign profits. Not only were they allowing offshore work, but they were also rewarding it.

The current administration brought dignity back to the working person over the last four years. One of their first actions was signing the Executive Order on Protecting the Federal Workforce. This reversed a wrong from the previous cabinet and expanded access to unions and increased the number of unionized federal employees.

They also signed the Executive Order to create the White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment. Since being created, this task force has issued over 70 recommendations to protect workers and their unionization rights, and in 2021, the Consolidated Appropriations Act was signed, which provided much-needed funding to the National Labor Relations Board.

But perhaps the last administration’s greatest achievement was also to the ultimate benefit of labor, and that was the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. For New York alone, this package required workers on projects such as expanding the Lincoln Tunnel and improving the Harlem transit services to be paid prevailing wages, expanded the apprenticeship programs, and gave good, honest jobs to New Yorkers while improving our city in the process.

It took us a while to recover as much as we did during the last Republican administration. When you go out to vote this November, I ask that you keep in mind you are voting for your rights as a worker in this country.

In Solidarity,

Kuba J. Brown

Business Manager/Financial Secretary-IUOE Local 94, 94A, 94B