By Tuesday night, the election will be over and John J.
"Johnny Doc" Dougherty, who leads the politically-connected International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 98, can turn his attention
to his next project, assuming the leadership of the Philadelphia Building
Trades Council. In our wide-ranging and rambling interview,
partially published in Sunday's Philadelphia Inquirer, Dougherty talked about
his plans for the Council, his leadership philosophies and the importance of
politics.
What follows are excerpts from the interview, with me
adding context, in brackets, as necessary:
Dougherty talked about how he wanted to modernize the
Building Trades Council, which is a coalition of construction unions. One of
his first initiatives, he said, will be better marketing.
Question: What do you have in mind?
Answer: Of course, social media campaign -- we'll market
ourselves a little bit better. Not just ads in ad books, we'll be omnipresent
throughout the region.
Q: Anything else?
A: We have a PALM Built-Rite, which is a
labor management coordination effort, which is significant and I think there's
another level that can go to in today's world.
[PALM stands for Philadelphia Area Labor Management
Committee and it’s a nonprofit enterprise that coordinates labor and management
on building sites, helping to resolve jurisdictional disputes and bring the
project in on time and under budget.]
Most companies have no interest in supplying benefits.
They just want give people a contract, a 1099 and let them go. I want to
specialize in all the things that corporations used to do for workers.
Q: What do you mean?
A: I want to make sure they have access to benefits. Most
unions do, but anyone that doesn't [have benefits], I want to make sure we're
able to facilitate it.
Q: Are you saying that you want to take these 1099s guys
-- the so-called independent contractors -- and bring them into unions some
other way? Explain. [Clients issue 1099, an IRS form, to independent
contractors they hire, saying how much they were the contractors for their
work]
A: I want to brand the building trades. I want people to
understand all the good we do, rather than the isolated every 25 years incidents
that take control of our perception.
Q: Like the Post Brothers? [The Pestronk brothers are
developers who went toe-to-toe with the
building trades on a project at 12Th and Wood Streets in Center City
where they declined to use 100 percent union labor. Punches were traded,
there was vandalism and pickets prevented construction from continuing.
Eventually a compromise was reached and the project was completed, but hard
feelings persisted.]
A: That's not something that bothered me one way or the
other. I could do business with them guys tomorrow. I think they made -- as
I've stated to you before -- I think they made a bad business decision. All you
have to do is look at the building at 21st and Chestnut [which was financed by
Local 98 pension funds]. It was done way ahead of schedule, under budget, and
got flipped for twice the amount of money. It was a pension investment deal. I
think it was built for $60 million, 100 percent union, without any L&I
[City of Philadelphia] Licenses and Inspection] issues, without any permit
issues and it got flipped for 108 million, so it was a significant investment
for our pension fund. It was done 100 percent with craftsmen and the city got
paid all the taxes and permitting fees it was entitled to. If you compare it to
the Post brothers job where we had the symbolic, minor indiscretions, if you
take a look at the number of tax dollars that came out of that job, it's
minute.
Q: Anyway, back to the 1099 idea.
A: I want to make sure that there is nothing that holds
someone up from being a union employee. Most unions are prepared to organize. I
just want to make sure membership doesn't have too many hurdles.
Q: So, if someone is working as a 1099, instead of
bringing them through the apprenticeship program, your thought is to devise an
alternative path. Am I getting that right?
A: What I'd like to do is come up with a concept so that
kids that go through the public school system have access to jobs, that we have
a significant reentry program [for people released from prison], that we
emphasize our helmets to hard hat initiatives and for the guy out there who is
being abused, the 1099, who has the skill sets and interests, that we find
spots for him in unions across the city. We have a lot of tools out there
that we don't really use well. The Palm Built-Rite program supplies not only
labor management coordination -- you never see jurisdictional
issues which are the biggest faux pas in the industry on Palm Built-Rite.
If the owners cooperate with the Palm Built-Rite program, you see very few accidents,
you see very few jobs that don't come in ahead of schedule and under budget, so
I'm looking to use every tool we have and here's the secret. It's not this tool
for that job or that tool for this job. I'm looking to take our whole tool box
and implement it all the time.
Q: Like what?
A: Pension investment. OK? East Market
Street, East Market Street projects at 10Th and 12Th and Market were the
catalyst for Brickstone's development on Chestnut Street and the
renovation of the Gallery. That was an easy one for me, because it was in
Center City. But I also want to use that to help.
[Dougherty says that his union’s pension investments have
spurred other development. He pointed again to the condo building at 21st and
Chestnut, saying that investment paid off].
A: It just got sold for $100 million. So them type of
returns are significant and them returns aren't just on a hot market. Them
returns are on the craftmanship, the time in which the building was completed
and the fact that there were no issues with the building.
Q: But there were issues – union issues. [After the building was sold, the union
cleaning crew was fired and replaced by a non-union crew. There were
rallies and informational pickets.]
A: There could union issues with every building in
town, one way or the other. I just spoke at the SEIU
32BJ's contract ratification. [SEIU 32BJ represents the janitors who
were ousted.] I spoke on behalf of my brother, but I also spoke of the
relationship. I expect the building trades to have very cooperative in
Philadelphia and surrounding areas with all the other unions.
Q: Speaking of marketing, do you think the Building
Trades Council will do something in conjunction with the various union
contractor groups who may be planning some joint marketing? I believe Emily Bittenbender, a
contractor who is chairman of the General Building Contractors Association, has
some plans.
A: I'm pretty friendly with Emily. I'm looking forward to
Emily and myself doing some really good things together. I'm not smoking cigars
with her.
Q: Does she smoke cigars? It's probably a badge of honor.
You probably have to.
A: I don't have to, I'll tell you that much. I don't need
any more badges.
Q: Do you smoke?
A: I've never had a cup of coffee or smoked a cigarette.
Q: I always wondered why the Building Trades Council
didn't have a website, since everyone goes online for everything.
A: Listen, that's part of Pat Gillespie's genius.
[Patrick Gillespie has been at the helm of the Council for decades] Pat
Gillespie knew what he was good at. People in the petroleum market love Pat
Gillespie. People in the healthcare industry -- Pat is a big Blue Cross guy, as
everybody well knows. [He's on the board of Independence Blue Cross]. In the
health care industry, Pat knew what he was doing. In the hospitality industry,
Pat was ahead of himself when he was on the Convention Center board. And again,
if you remember, Pat was probably the stimulus behind the initial [Customer
Satisfaction Agreement in 2003] that then got blown up after Mayor John
Street's last term . Pat's genius was, even from a legal perspective, Pat was
carrying sins from 20 years. He's done a nice job at continuing the growth of
the industry and being in front of a lot of cutting edge construction
developments. Take a look at Pat Gillespie's inclusionary initiatives. If you
took at some of the steps he took to become a one-stop purchasing of benefits,
pooling our resources. But you have to remember, Pat has a very difficult job
as the head of the building trades. It’s a very significant position. You have
to be strong enough to handle it. Out of the 40 or so unions you
represent, 25 of them are prominent in their own right.
[At this point, Dougherty took a little walk through
labor history, making the point that Gillespie led union leaders, who
themselves were very powerful and who advanced from Philadelphia to national
positions. They represent a generation of leaders that are already retired or
close to it, so Gillespie’s leaving signals the passing of an era.]
“You've got people like Tom Kelly, the sheet metal
worker who went on to be the secretary -treasurer of the international. You got
people like John Dougherty [Yes, another John Dougherty – also from
Philadelphia] and Pat Finley, who both went on to be international
presidents of the Cement Masons. You take a look at Ed Keenan and Ed Coryell
and Sam Staten. They were all the best of the best there ever was in
their own unions and they all grew up with a Pat Gillespie at the helm.
I always thought that Pat's type of leadership was, `Hey,
let's not over-exaggerate my importance. But when I need to put my foot down,
you have to have the capabilities of doing it.
Q: Speaking of leadership, what about Bernard Griggs? [I
asked this because rumor had it that Bernard Griggs, from the Bricklayers
union, one of Gillespie’s deputies, had been passed over for the top job.]
A: Instead of talking about Bernard Griggs, let's talk
about Freddy Cosenza and Bernard Griggs [both top deputies at the Building
Trades Council]. I'm going to re-evaluate both of them. I have every intention
of keeping them there. I have a different work ethic than Pat. And I don't mean
I work any harder. I'm a guy who pops in at 6 p.m. and expects my guys to be
there at 6 p.m. I'm not old school. So some guys might not want to work with
me.
Q: Any other plans?
A: I refer to Pat's activity as his genius because
he did things with less money, with so many powerful people in the room and got
consensus more than most people. His drug and alcohol initiative was one
of the first. I'm going to try to make that more nationally recognized.
Q: What else are you thinking about?
A: My plans are, as I did with Workers Stand for America,
you see that little program we had? [In 2011, the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers spearheaded a convention in Philadelphia for
all workers, union and non-union, and Dougherty took the lead in planning it,
continuing the momentum beyond the event.]
That was a think tank that became a do tank. That was a
group of unions who got together and didn't talk about what was wrong, but
talked about we can make things right. The firefighters, police officers were
there, the SEIUs, the AFSCME, the Teamsters, everybody. My goal with the
trades will be the same thing. I've already taken some steps. I'm already in the
process of trying to modernize. When people are friends, we're going to reward
them. If people go out of their way to be our enemies, we're going to make sure
we don't participate with them.
Q: You mentioned attending a meeting with Smith
Kline drug executives and all the building trades that worked on their new building in the Navy Yard. Is there a
something like a Building Trades Council for pharma?
A: I'm going to participate in all of them. You know the
old book, `Getting to Yes?' But no one ever took `Yes’ to another level or
enforced `Yes’ or explained what `Yes' was. I'm going to spend time doing
that.
Q: What was the pharma thing?
A: In this case, it was Smith Kline who was a partner,
because it was in Philadelphia, because they built and their building was done
on time, ahead of schedule and under budget and they have great relationships
with us. So when they get new products, maybe we help them maybe patent
something. [What] people don't understand is that I also want to be a partner.
If Sunoco is a partner, I want to be able to help Sunoco. If Smith Kline is a
partner, if there is something we can do,...
Q: Like what?
A: Help them get a patent on something.
Q: How could you help them?
A: We could lobby on behalf of them, like a regular
lobbyist.
[This next answer demonstrates why it can be tricky to
interview John Dougherty. You have to navigate a dense thicket of words. His
thoughts go off in many directions before coming back to the point. I added a
few words in brackets to help.]
And why would we do it? If you have a pill that my guy [a
union member] has to take -- I pay over $80 million a year to Blue Cross for
[union] benefits -- I have a [union] prescription card that if that kid
[a union member] opens his pocket, I open my pocket. You get a
prescription for 5 or 10 bucks, $20 if it s really special. Why would I want to
take… In my pocket right now, I have a Nexium and a Lipitor. I call
them the spoiled brat drugs. I work out and do everything, but if there is a
modern medicine that allows me, mid-day, to grab, at 3 or 4 p.m., a
donut, I'm going to do it. If something comes up [Dougherty means a new
medicine] that I may pay a little more, but you only have to take one a week,
instead of one or two every day, why would I not help a company do that?
That is something we would never do before.
So, in my role, I'm going to make sure that when you are
a partner with the building trades, you get as much from us as we do from you.
Source: Philly.com
No comments:
Post a Comment