50 stories above New York City — Interview with an apprentice union carpenter

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8 SOCIALIST ACTION NOVEMBER 2017 Last August, a 22-year-old apprentice fell to his death on a construction site. Fa­ talities and injuries are increasing each year in the building trades. Young class-conscious workers like Mari Lamarca are trying to figure out how to take on the bosses while building strong unions that are in tune with the needs of rank-and-file members. Lamarca, a union carpenter apprentice, discusses the day-to-day pres­ sures from 50 stories above New York City.

Ernie Gotta: Can you briefly describe what it’s like to be an apprentice carpen­ ter? What is it like working in the build­ ing trades?

Mari Lamarca: Being an apprentice in the unionized building trades has nu­ merous sides to it. I have been a member of the Carpenters for two years now, but before I joined the union I did floor cov­ ering and landscaping. The biggest dif­ ference is pay and benefits. Before, I had to work hard for $12-$15 an hour. As a first-year apprentice in the union, I start­ ed at $21 an hour. I also have a pension, which I can keep track of on-line, health care, dental care, and a vacation check which I get every three months.

Economically, the benefits are clear. The other major advantages are job training, free certification classes, and my per­ sonal favorite—the out-of-work list. It’s much easier to find a job and it’s reduced significant amounts of anxiety for me.

The bad side is that the construction unions have subscribed to a business unionism ideology for a long time now. On the job that has various manifesta­ tions. Because technology has yet to have a significant impact on construction, the companies have to resort to manage­ ment and psychological techniques to extract more from us.

For example, we are condescended to frequently—especially the apprentices. On arrival, we’re treated as idiots until we prove otherwise. This makes us feel as if any day we could be laid off, which of course causes us to be more complacent. There are also other unwritten rules, but which everyone follows. If you have to use the restroom, it is considered a waste of time and another reason to be laid off. Instead of 30 minutes for lunch, we have between 12-12:30, which on a 50-story building with two hoist elevators and several trades going up or down, is sim­ ply not going to happen.

Then, of course, there are the explicitly illegal actions. It’s not hard to imagine what we go through. The boss priori­ tizes profit and will do anything to in­ crease that. I’ve been on jobs where they wouldn’t provide dust masks, requiring that I buy them from my wages. Or they give us inadequate dust masks, which are not intended for the specific work we are doing. Although New York state law mandates employers to provide water, in my entire time working in New York City I have only had one employer pro­ vide water.

To be honest, I attribute a lot of this to business unionism and male chauvinism. The two go hand-in-hand. We are expect­ ed to be tough, so things that wouldn’t be allowed to pass in any other context are allowed to happen to us. Have you ever heard of an office worker not being pro­ vided water for free? But in construction this is “normal.”

EG: On site, what is the most pressing issue facing your coworkers?

ML: There are numerous things. If you ask the average worker, they would prob­ ably say pay and benefits. Due to the rise of non-union construction most unions have taken a hit. But there are safety issues such as inadequate safety equip­ ment, being forced to work in unsafe conditions (there is an unwritten role to never say no), or simply being pushed too hard. A friend of mine suffered heat stroke this summer, and it was absolute­ ly preventable. We don’t have as many deaths as non-union, but plenty of things are allowed to happen that shouldn’t.

EG: We know thousands of workers are injured or die each year due to unsafe working conditions. In August a 22-yearold construction apprentice fell to his death at a worksite. Can these injuries and deaths be avoided? How?

ML: Before I moved to New York I worked as a carpenter in Boston. The company and the foreman will not look out for us, so it’s pointless to say that we just need to demand safer jobs. The key to the question of safety is representa­ tion and enforcement. The major dif­ ference is that in Boston—although far from perfect—the stewards fought for us on the job. There is too much room for corruption in the structure of our union (continued on page 11, in “Connecticut: ‘Solution is Socialism’”)