December 9, 2021
Brothers of Start Elevator:
I hope this communication finds you and your families well. To be sure, this has been a trying time for you. What you are doing – standing up to fight the status quo – is nothing short of heroic.
That said, I want to be transparent with you by sharing the full truth regarding this organizing drive.
First, this is about YOU.
Our union’s organizing department is running this campaign for you. Elevator workers have a tough job – they deserve nothing but the best. The best pay, state-of-the-art safety equipment, proper PPE, an abundance of education and training opportunities, robust healthcare packages, a healthy pension – and so much more.
This isn’t about convincing you to join the union. This is about better pay, better safety, and retirement security for ALL elevator workers.
Unions are organizations that fight every day for WORKERS.
We’ve all seen the evolution of this organizing drive, and to be completely candid, some of it has not played out the way I’d hoped, especially the misrepresentations and personal attacks – there is no place for that.
This campaign started more than three months ago. With you – the workers – on my mind, I sat down several times to write letters (two of which you’ll find links to below) to Jack O’Shea.
I did not want this to become a fight.
In each communication, I offered a peaceful solution and identified a number of tools and resources with which Local One arms its signatory contractors to help them succeed. In my communications, I invited Jack to become part of a proven partnership – proposing a viable pathway for his workers, as well as his company, to prosper.
I didn’t want it to come to this – our union wasn’t looking for a fight. We know the great strain that this campaign puts on each one of you. Your job is already hard and dangerous enough – you shouldn’t have to worry about representing yourself.
You shouldn’t have to worry about an election.
You shouldn’t have to sit through captive audience meetings.
You shouldn’t be pulled from your routes and jobs.
Shame on Jack for making you go through any of this – shame on him for refusing to sit down with Local One prior to hiring notorious union-buster Mike Penn, a hypocrite who collects a union pension while traveling the country working for companies that fight workers attempting to unionize.
We realized Local One’s plan of inviting Jack into discussions evidently wasn’t working, as we learned about Start Elevator workers who supported joining the union facing blatant employer retaliation tactics.
So, if a fight is what Jack wants, that’s exactly what we’ll give him.
We will fight. (And unlike Jack and Mike Penn, Local One will fight fair.)
We will win.
Together, we will secure a contract for Start Elevator workers.
One of the most feared fighters in the world, Mike Tyson, once said: Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
That, my friends, is an apt summary of what happened here.
Local One had a plan. We asked Jack to sit down with us and find middle ground. His response – or rather a lack thereof – was a punch in the mouth.
Therefore, our union was compelled to step in the ring and fight.
So, here we are…
And I can assure you, WE HAVE PLAN – a plan to WIN.
To be clear, I continue to hold hope that Jack will see the light and respond to me; however, much to my dismay, I’ve yet to receive so much as a phone call from him.
If he refuses to communicate directly with Local One, I have no choice but to continue encouraging our organizers to stay in the fight – and to ramp up methods as needed.
My promise to you, Brothers, is this: Local One will stay in the ring with you until, together, we win this fight.
Sincerely,
Lenny Legotte
President and Business Manager
International Union of Elevator Constructors
Local One