Maybe, on Labor Day, at the
head of the annual Labor Day parade of union members - the T-shirted battalions
of union teachers, truck drivers, trash crews, postal workers, hospital
dieticians, building engineers, stagehands, and riggers - Patrick J. Eiding
will be able to forget, for a moment, the relentless union bashing he often
encounters.
To Eiding, 73, president of
the Philadelphia Council of the AFL-CIO, a federation of about 100
Philadelphia-area union locals, it seems so frustratingly backwards.
Why, he wonders, are people
angry at workers who have good union jobs with good benefits? Instead of being
angry at those people, why aren't they more angry that their own jobs don't pay
decent wages and benefits? "The jealousy factor in our country kills us,"
he said.
Question: How do you explain
unions' decline?
Answer: There was a time in
Philadelphia when you could walk to work and almost every corner had a factory
and almost every factory had a union. Those businesses left. The factories went
overseas.
Q: So what's the response?
A: If a person's working, we
should be out there representing them - the fast-food people, the immigrant
workers who are working in dark, dank places and nobody is watching out for
them.
Q: Why do unions encounter so
much hostility from the ultra-right and big-business interests?
A: Because we're the only
threat to their power. We're the last bastion of a voice for working people.
Q: Are there examples of
companies and unions working together?
A: Every time you went to a
refinery, you had to have a drug test. Suppose [a worker] goes to a refinery
and works for seven days and then he goes to a different refinery. He had to
have another drug test. We put together a card, [which shows whether the worker
passed a recent screening]. You can swipe it and go from refinery to refinery.
The refineries saved millions of dollars. That was our idea.
Q: You sit on many boards -
United Way, the Urban Affairs Coalition, National Association of Workforce
Boards. Why?
A: I feel very strongly that
if labor is not at the table, they are always knocking at the door later to get
in.
Q: How did you get into the
union?
A: I had a brother who was
working in the insulator and asbestos union.
Q: As soon as you became a
journeyman, you were named a foreman.
A: I expected a full day's
work. If you didn't work, you weren't going to be with me. What the world
doesn't realize, the employer has to make money or he'll go out of business and
then you don't have any place to work.
Q: Sometimes the building
trades get a bad rap.
A: The sad part is that
people don't understand how construction works. When people get terminated, the
employer makes the decision, not the union.
Q: People slam the building
trades for nepotism and not being diverse.
A: People from both sides
make that decision, not just the union. On an [apprentice] board, there are
three employers and three union folks. People say [unions] lean toward
nepotism, but it may be that ABC Insulation Co. has a top-notch guy whose son
wants to get into the union. That happens.
Q: Are you handy at home?
A: Just a couple years ago, I
changed all the bathrooms, put new vanities in. I'm a little slower than I used
to be.
PATRICK
J. EIDING
Title: President, Philadelphia
Council AFL-CIO, since 2002.
Home: Torresdale.
Family: Wife Liz; daughters Cheryl
Best, 48; Joan Bernard, 45.
Education: North Catholic High School,
GED from U.S. Army.
Union: Insulators and Asbestos
Workers Local 14. Led the local for 29 years.
Chief charity: Asbestos Workers
Mesothelioma Fund.
Up next: Develop younger leadership
in union ranks; take up the guitar.
With his hands: Built an addition to his
house. Can fix cars.
In the car: Singing "Old Shep"
by Elvis Presley.
PHILADELPHIA
COUNCIL AFL-CIO
Office: Center City.
What: Federation of more than 100
union locals representing many trades and professions.
Combined members: More than 100,000.
Structure: Nonprofit, local branch of
the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation.
Revenue: $912,000.
Source: Philly.com
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