History of Local 12
"The most poweiful drive in the ascent of man is his pleasure in his own skill. He loves to do what he does well, and having done it well, he loves to do it better. You see it in his science. You see it in the magnificence with which he carves a building, the loving care, the gaiety, the affronte. The monuments are supposed to commemomte kings and religions and heroes and dogmas, but in the end, the man they commemorate is the builder."
-Jacob Bronowski
The Ascent of Man
INTRODUCTIONS
This page is about working people, Over the last 75 years, America has grown from a fledgling nation with dirt roads, one-room schoolhouses and steam-driven engines to a world power with a network of interstate highways, glistening skyscrapers and technologically advanced energy systems. At the heart of that growth are the millions of building trades workers whose hard work, sweat and dedication built the country we know today.
Carrying their strong craft traditions into the 20th Century, building trades workers were instrumental not only in building America, but in helping to build the labor movement. Throughout the history of the labor movement, building trades leaders have provided strength and foresight and formed a pillar of stability in the house of labor. In its 75 years, the Building and Construction Trades Department has grown from a loose-knit group of earnest building trades workers to a powerful organization which represents the interests of millions of building trades workers in the United States and Canada.
Despite the vast changes over the last 75years, this history shows the many similarities we share today with our past. Frighteningly similar are the anti-union campaigns, such as the so-called "American Plan" of the 1920s and the "Committee for a Union-Free Environment" today. Designed to deny workers their rights to form unions and bargain collectively with their employers, both of these antiworker efforts have instead served to light our fires and drive workers to fight harder than ever for the right to have a strong, effective voice in their own destiny. Other recurring themes abound. The massive joblessness and hardship of the 1930s is markedly similar to the depressionary conditions which surround building trades workers today, The impact of advancing technology on the workplace, jurisdictional questions, and labor's role in society are all issues which repeat themselves over and over throughout this page.
As we stride forward, it is important to look back at our achievements as well as our mistakes so that we can more wisely chart our course for the future. The Building and Construction Trades Department is proud of its members and proud ofits past, and offers this history as a valuable guide to the future for building trades workers and others interested in the building trades.
Robert A. Georgine, Past President
Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO
The account of the first 75 years of the Building and Construction Trades Department recounts the events, the hopes and the frustrations of building trades workers throughout the history of the Department. By shedding light on workers' past battles and achievements, the Department also helps point the way for future workers who struggle to protect these rights. A constant source of strength within the labor movement, the Building and Construction Trades Department and its 15 affiliates have;produced some of the great leaders of the American trade union movement. Carpenter Peter McGuire initiated the first Labor Day celebration. George Meany is only one of the many building tradesmen who contributed his leadership to the welfare of all workers.
The leadership provided by the building trades is not the result of accidents of history; it comes from the skills, strength and solidarity of the members. Grounded in their strong craft traditions, the building trades have provided a solid base of unity for the labor movement since the earliest days of organizing. Today, as well as all through its history, the Building and Construction Trades Department recognizes the importance of looking forward as well as looking back. The Department recently pioneered a new approach to put pension funds -the largest single source of capital in the nation -to worlt for workers. By promoting the investment of union pension funds in job-creating construction projects, the Department embarks on an innovative endeavor to create new work opportunities for its members. This kind of creative leadership serves as an example to the entire labor movement.
The rest ofthe labor movement salutes the Building and Construction Trades Department in celebration of its 75th Anniversary -75 years of hard work, determination and solidarity. We look forward to the next 75 years.
Lane Kirkland
Past President; AFL-CIO
HISTORY OF THE INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF HEAT & FROST INSULATORS & ASBESTOS WORKERS
The 20,000 members of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers proudly trace the history of their union to the earliest days of the modern industrial era. Prior to about 1880, much of America's physical plant was still in a dismal state: mass production in industry was still far in the future; public buildings and multi-family dwellings were seldom much cozier or healthful than thEl, cold, drafty factories of the day; working conditions were barely tolerable. In the closing days of the Nineteenth Century, however, steam power overtook the nation in much the same way that electricity would 40 years later. Widespread use of steam power in this era resulted in better heated, more efficient industrial plants, and created untold thousands of new manufacturing jobs. Working conditions in factories improved somewhat, and even living conditions in many homes were Upgraded with the installation of steam power. Among these side benefits of steam power came the creation of an entire new industry -insulation to conserve the precious energy being piped from boilers into factories and offices and homes across the nation. The insulation mechanics who provided the craftsmanship required for such a sudden and large undertaking were, at that time, ~most totally without cohesive, organized representation. They enjoyed none of the benefits of belonging to a national or international organization; at best, there grew up by the end of the Nineteenth Century a few localized associations that attempted to look after the interests of their members in specific cities. Just as the modern American labor movement had its awakening at the turn of the century during a turbulent era of economic depression, employers' disregard for workers' rights, and government advocacy of strike-breaking so too did a movement begin to unite the craftsmen who were performing the much needed task of conserving the nation's newest and most modern energy resource. The first attempt to form a national bond between the existing insulators' associations came in 1900, when the Salamander Association of New York City (which took its name from the reptile that, according to legend, had a skin that was impervious to fire) sent out an appeal to related crafts in other cities to form a National Organization of Pipe and Boiler Coverers." This initial effort by the Salamander Association's Joseph A. Mullaney and John Boden met with little enthusiasm, though, in the face of prevailing fears that large, national organizations simply would not protect local interests. That initial appeal did spark interest, and two years later a much more decisive action was taken by the officers and members of Pipe Coverers' Union, Local No.1, of St. Louis, Missouri. Local No.1 sent out an announcement that it had affiliated with the National Building Trades Council of America, and invited other pipe.coverer unions and related trades to join with them in the pursuit of better working conditions, pay that was ommensurate with their skills, and the strength that comes from unity. The brothers of Local No. 1 went about their task of forming an international union in a reasoned and methodical manner. The first appeal for unity was sent to targeted cities where other asbestos workers already were enjoying the benefits of union affiliation New York, Chicago, Cleveland, and Detroit. The communications carried with them a request that each localized union exchange with others their constitutions and by-laws, as well as a solicitation of names of brothers who could be recommended for an initial "International Committee."
Unlike the effort of1900, the campaign by Local No.1 of St.Louis produced some very encouraging results. In all, seven local unions from around the nation responded favorably, and the hard work of laying the foundation for an international union was begun. With the St. Louis union leading the way, the interested locals who had responded to the call for formation of an international union met for their first convention on July 7, 1903. Local No.1 PresidentJ. W. Shearn called the convention to order. The results of that inaugural convention were impressive -a constitution was drafted and approved; by-laws were adopted; Thomas Kennedy of Chicago was elected the first president of the organization; and an assessment of .$1.00 was levied on each local union to pay expenses of the convention. The following year, 1904, brought with it even faster advances for the new union. At the annual convention, a formal name finally was adopted by the organization -the National Association of Heat, Frost and General Insulators 'and Asbestos Workers of America. And on September 22 ofthat year, the American Federation of Labor issued an official charter designating the Asbestos Workers as a national union.
The early years of the new union mirrored the time in which it was born. The United States and Canada at the~turn of the century were trying to struggle out of the depths of a severe depression that persisted even in the face of substantial if sometimes isolated industrial expansion. Likewise, a virulent anti-union sentiment guided the hiring policies and working conditions set by the vast majority of employers. The federal government, when called upon to intervene in labor-management disputes, did so most often to the sole benefit of employers. And the. public at large, along with many workers, were openly skeptical of a national labor movement that was still in its infancy. Brothers Shearn, Kennedy, and others launched their new national union in less than advantageous times, and immediately were faced with an unrelenting attack by asbestos industry employers who, with their corporate colleagues, feared union representation for the building trades. A massive, national open-shop campaign was waged, one that was at least equal to the initiatives being pushed by these same interests today. But the early leaders of the Asbestos Workers knew from the beginning that they would have to fight for mere survival, and this detennination was expressed in the earliest conventions by providing funds for organizers. By the 1905 convention, provisions were made that guaranteed each local would commit itself to the national policy of growth and strength through organizing, If such expansion was uppermost in the mmds of the founding officers at the 1905 convention, so too was the early leaders' commitment to democracy. The delegates that year mandated that every affiliated local union be entitled to at least one delegate to each subsequent convention, and locals were urged to set aside funds to pay the expenses ofthose convention delegates. Still, these were harsh times for all building trades unions, and the Asbestos Workers was not exempt. Membership gains had been made during the initial year or two of the union's existence, but inroads made by open-shop employers and the willingness of some workers to work for wages far below what their skills demanded , caused the ranks of the Asbestos Workers to dwindle to only about 300 in 1905. Such a dilution of the union's strength might have been an irreversible disaster for less-determined union leaders, but the Asbestos Workers fought back even harder. . Gains were made, slowly and at no small economic sacrifice. To save money, the 1906 annual convention was cancelled and the union's organizers were cut back. Instead of simply folding under the economic pressures, though, the members of the General Executive Board took on the responsibilities of organizing. Over the course of the next several years, these tough-minded leaders saw their efforts begin tonreap some rewards. Membership c:rept up to the 1,000 mark, and funds were obtained to again establish an official position of General Organizer. The year 1910 marked a new plateau for the National Association of Heat, Frost and General Insulators and Asbestos Workers of America. 
The union's unremitting policy of expansion paid off when several Canadian local unions added their strength to their American brothers. In light of these. advances, the Asbestos Workers applied to the Federabon of Labor for a new charter, this time as an International Union under the name that the organization bears today. The Internabonal Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers. The goals ofthe new International were spelled out in the charter. "The object of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers shall be to assist its membership in securing employment, to defend their rights, and advance their interests as workingmen; and by education and cooperation raise them to that position in society to which they are justly entitled." The new AF of L Charter also delineated the work over which the Asbestos Workers would have jurisdiction as the "practical mechanical application, installation, or erection of heat and frost insulation, such as magnesia, asbestos, hair felt, wool felt, cork, mineral wood, infusorial earth, mercerized silk, flax fiber, fire felt, asbestos paper, asbestos curtain and millboard, or any substitute for these materials or engaged in any labor connected with the handling or distributing of inSUlating materials on job premises." Respect for the craftsmen of their union, just compensation for the wor~ they performed, and. a 'careful demarcation of the International's jurisdictional rights -all of these components of the 1910 ~International charter gave the Asbestos Workers a broader, more solid foundation on which to build. With their sights focused clearly on the future, the leaders of the International took their members into the second decade of the Twentieth Century -a time that was at once to usher in new prosperity for the International and to see the world plunged into the first global war.
When the Asbestos Workers met in convention in 1914, Joseph A. Mullaney -who had been a co-signer of the letter 14 years earlier from the Salamander Association urging formation of a national , association-was serving his first term as president of the union. His report to the delegates gathered in Toronto, Canada, included the heartening news that the membership rolls had grown to 1,477 -600 of whom had been accepted into the union in just the past two years. The number of local unions affiliated that year stood at 19. The U.S. had entered World War I. The dark days of war, in which the nation · mobilized all of its domestic resources to defeat the enemy in Europe, had created an urgent need for the skills of Asbestos Workers craftsmen. This effort to prosecute the war successfully created so many jobs, in fact, that the Asbestos Workers were in a position of being able to come to the aid of another, less successful union the Operative Plasterers and Cement Finishers. Since the war effort required bans on certain types of building materials, the Plasterers' Union members found themselves virtually without work until the Asbestos Workers held out the hand of union fraternalism. The International signed an agreement with the Plasterers provid~ ing employment for a number of that union's members in the asbestos . industry. With the sudden surge in asbestos-related jobs, the agreement could be made without curtailing work for the Asbestos Workers; on the other hand, it provided desperately needed jobs for union plasterers and contributed to the war effort on the home front. This unique agreement was a shining example of brotherhood during an ·era of intense rivalry for membership among some other unions. And while the brothers of the Asbestos Workers were doing their part at home, they did not forget those members who were called on to serve in the military. At the 1916 convention, the delegates exempted their brothers in uniform from dues for life, and memorialized their service in the International Roll of Honor. More than 250 Asbestos Workers members were honored in this fashion. When World War I drew to a' close, President Mullaney and the other International Officers turned their attention to strengthening their union and protlEcting the remarkable gains that had been achieved by developing codified, unifonn agreements among the trades represented by the International. Some confusion, and occasionally an intra-union dispute, arose over the first 17 years of the Asbestos Workers' existence because of the diversity of skills and materials covered by its jurisdiction. The convention of 1919 acted to clear up these and other potential areas for disagreement with a hallmark set of resolutuons that remain today the bases for cooperation and orderly jurisdictional assignments throughout the International.
The 1919 convention was held after a period of sustained, substantial growth in membership and influence for the Asbestos Workers. The union, like all of the building trades, was poised to enter the 1920s in a position of strength. The boom times of the war continued, and the labor movement enjoyed much the same prosperity that was found across the country. Despite the redoubled efforts by anti-union employers, new locals were formed, existing locals expanded, and the International took on new responsibilities for protecting the rights and interests of the members. But the boom was bound to end, and the construction industry fell as flat as the stock market with the Crash of 1929. Black Friday stretched into a black decade as all American and Canadian workers suffered the worst economic hardship ever encountered. With little work available, every union was decimated and only the strongest survived. The New Deal of President Roosevelt helped to a degree, but once again it would take a global war to lift the nation out of the Great Depression. When America went to war in 1941, the nation was ill-equipped to arm or supply or transport its fighting forces. A massive domestic effort was required to bring our armed forces up to muster, and again the craftsmen of the Asbestos Workers were called upon to apply their skills particularly for the awesome task of rebuilding a Navy that suffered such enormous destruction at Pearl Harbor. As they had in 1916, the brothers of the Asbestos Workers responded to the challenge and played a crucial role in the reconstruction of the Navy. When World War II finfllly ended, the nation turned itself once again to the task of domestic construction. The earlier experiences of the previous generation of craftsmen ,were repeated in that the International gained membership by the hundreds and the members as well as the union itself embarked on a new era of prosperity. It was not long, though, before the successes of this peliod were tempered by frightening new evidence that confirmed long-held suspicions by the International's leadership.
For years, Asbestos Workers officials had sought hard, positive proof of what they suspected to be true -that workers who were exposed to asbestos died in hugely disproportionate numbers from cancer. The suspicion hung on, but medical records on deceased members often were inaccurate or unavailable, and the asbestos industry itself coldly rejected the union's charges and covered up its own suspicions and records. But the International fought on, alone. It would take years for anyone other than the union's membership to listen to the pleas for formal investigations and medical documentation. But the International continued its battle for full disclosure of the truth, and when it was finally successful the facts proved to be even worse than had been suspected.
Medical evidence now conclusively proves that exposure to asbestos fibers produces an extraordinarily high risk of contracting cancer. The most recent authoritative study shows that one Asbestos Workers member in five dies of lung cancer in one form or another. The early outcry from the Asbestos Workers proved to be, if anything, understated. The cancer rate among the union's members -as well as among members' families -is a national tragedy that possibly c.ould have been mitigated if not avoided. Manufacturers, however, have a long and disgraceful history of suppressing their own investigations that led to the same tragic conclusions decades ago. Another aspect of asbestos exposure is that related diseases often do not show up for 20 or 30 years. As a result, those same craftsmen who rebuilt the U.S. Navy to fight World War II are now fighting for their own lives because of the materials they used then. Just as the Asbestos Workers initiated and led the fight years ago to uncover the truth about asbestos exposure, today the International is leading the fight to gain adequate, fair compensation for its members who face so uncertain a future. But through its long and proud history, the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers has never shied away from adversity or allowed negative factors to impede the achievement of those admirable goals set out in the International charter of 1910.
Through the years, the International has enjoyed exemplary leadership from its elected officers -from the first President, Thomas Kennedy; to the 43-year tenure of Joseph A. Mullaney; to Carlton Sickles, who served as secretary-treasurer for 21 years before holding the office of president for another 13 years; to the late Alfred E. Hutchinson. The current General President, Andrew T. Haas, has led the International since his election to that office in 1972. Even as General President Haas and the other general officers continue their fight for fair treatment to the victims of asbestos exposure, the International is continuing to branch out into other endeavors that will better serve the membership. A Health Hazard Screening Program has been initiated to protect the health and well-being of members and their families; an active Political Action Fund has been established as a means of ensuring that labor's voice continues to be heard in Congress; an excellent apprenticeship training program has been established to provide continued excellence in the craft; and an Instructor Training Program was inaugurated in 1982 as a means of keeping local union instructors abreast of the most up-to-date teaching methods. The unflagging commitment by the leadership of the Asbestos Workers over the past 81 years is best testified to by the steady growth and certain strength evident today. The International now has 120 local unions in the United States and Canada to protect the interests of its more than 20,000 members. The International is an active, contributing affiliate of the AFLCIO, the Building and Construction Trades Department, the Metal Trades Department, the Union Label and Service Trades Department, and the Canadian Federation of Labour. Asbestos Workers members take a justifiably proud role in the birth and growth of the modern American labor movement, anc,l the determination and commitment of their leaders from Thomas Kennedy through Andrew T. Haas have paid dividends not only to 'themselves but to the union workforce in general and,to the United States and Canada as well.
JOSEPH A. MULLANEY
June 11, 1872 -December 25, 1954
Born in New York City, June 11, 1872 and started work as an Asbestos Worker Apprentice for the Asbestos Felting Works in March, 1888. He immediately joined the local union at that time under the title of The Salamander's Association of Boiler and Pipe Coverers and became business agent of that organization in 1902, which position he maintained until 1912 at which time he wa,s elected by convention: action in New York City as General President of the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators and Asbestos Workers. During that period of time the old Salamander's Association of New York had, with other independent locals throughout the country, formed the International Association as exists today, and under the present~day title, with the new International leaving the ranks as affiliated with the old "Knights of Labor" and joining with and pioneering in the building of the' American Federal of Labor. General President Mullaney from that date on continued convention after convention to be elected to succeed himself during which time, through his able guidance the Asbestos Workers grew both in membership and recognition within the building industry to the point where the individual membership conditions of employment were unanimously ,recognized within the industry as second to none. The delegates to the 1937 Convention elected to a life term as General President. Shortly after being elected President of the Asbestos Workers, 'President Mullaney was ,elected vice president of the New York State Federation of Labor and remained in that position until the time of his death advancing over the years to the position of first vice president many years ago. For over a score of years he was chairman or the Resolution Committee of the New York State Federation and in this position did much to promote the legislative program as adopted by annual conventio~s and a good portion of which became laws enacted by the New York State' Legislatgre on behalf of all of the working men and women of the State.Three times President Mullaney declined an automatic promotion to the position of president of the New York State Federation, One of the outstanding achievements which gave him the great personal satisfaction was the part he played as campaign manager for the now President of the American Federation of Labor, George Meany, in his first campaign and election as president of the New York State Federation of Labor in 1934. President Mullaney died on December 25, 1951 at the age of 82 having, completed 66 years as an"Asbestos Worker".
Coming soon...
Address delivered by President Mullaney at the testimonial dinner by the International Association on his 60th anniversary as an Asbestos Worker.
