Meet Our Members!
Meet Grailin Simmons
Laborers Local 3
Watch 25-year LIUNA Local 3 member Grailin Simmons talk about what being part of a union like LIUNA means to him, how the Union can effectively utilize its power, and how he and his brothers and sisters can help LIUNA on our March to A Million members.
“LIUNA is important because it’s an organization that has the same goals as workers: Fair wages. Fair pay. Benefits. And all that stuff we like to take for granted.
Meet Arturo Jacuince
Laborers Local 172
80 people and counting. That’s how many workers, Laborers Local 172’s Arturo Jacuince helped organize into the union. Oh, and he’s not a full-time organizer. Arturo works in the field, presently as superintendent for a general contractor at the $1 billion Netflix Studios Project in Monmouth County, New Jersey.
“I’ll talk to anyone about the benefits of going union. I’ll ask the kid pumping my gas, ‘ever think of joining a union?’ Even if they aren’t ready to join now, I want them thinking about it,” said Arturo. “Every worker should belong to a union.”
The funny thing is that Arturo didn’t always feel that way. For many years he worked non-union and didn’t have a high opinion of unions. Even when he decided to apply to LIUNA back in 2019, he didn’t fully understand the important role unions play.
“I thought the union would give me a job and help me get paid well, but I really didn’t know anything about how it worked,” he laughed. “That’s until I took my first RISE class. It opened my eyes.”
One RISE class turned into the next and then came the calls. It was Arturo calling the RISE Program Director Ana Taveras asking when the next class was and if he could enroll. “I was probably a pest, but I liked RISE and wanted to learn more and learn it as fast as I could.”
Some might call that attitude ambitious, others might say it’s annoying, but Arturo says he just calls them like he sees them. “I have always been a worker and like the feeling of earning what I have. I also know that if we want more as a union, we have to work for that too. I tell people, I am willing to do my part and they should be ready to do their part, too. That’s the way a union succeeds.”
He said he learned that in RISE Training.
Meet Noel Holliday
Laborers Local 79
It might be at a picket line, political event, or parade, but there is a chance that Local 79 member Noel Holliday will have someone lurking in his shadow. Not to worry. He knows this shadowy creature. It is his ten-year old daughter, a fifth-grade student, budding artist and one of LUNA’s youngest union activists.
While not everyone brings their children to union activities, none of it feels foreign to Holliday, a Queens resident and 19-year LIUNA member. In fact, he was once that child in tow. His father Clarence was a proud and active LIUNA member and would bring his young son to union events.
Holliday really got involved in activism later in his union career, but when he did, he went full tilt. He took RISE classes, regularly showed up at Local 79 actions, and went to membership meetings. But, it was the activist-driven Queens Brigade, an extension of Laborers Rising, that really inspired him to do more.
Holiday remembers the doubters before the first Queens Brigade meeting. “There is no way people are going to show up in some church basement at 5:30 p.m. on a weeknight,” he remembers the naysayers predicting. “But when I got there,” Holliday recalls, “the line to get into the meeting was winding around the block.” LIUNA members were ready to get involved in THEIR community.
In Holliday’s mind, the Brigades and member empowerment works. “When I attend a local community board meeting, I am talking to my neighbors, and when I mention that planned projects should use union labor and pay a real living wage, they are hearing it from someone on the inside, someone who knows the neighborhood, and who they will see on the street and at the store.” It makes a difference, he believes.
And making a difference is what it is all about right now. In these politically turbulent times, Holliday concluded, LIUNA must do more than just be ready to fight, it must also be ready, willing, and able to win.
Meet Steve Ennett
Laborers Local 77 Journeyworker and RISE Master
Watch five-year LIUNA Local 77 member Steve Ennett talk about why he loves being a LIUNA union member, how the union helps him provide for his family, and his hopes for the next generation of Union Laborers.
“I love LIUNA because I have an organization where I’m respected, cared for, and given a chance to move further in the future.
Meet Claudia Monteiro
Laborers Local 55
LIUNA Local 55 member Claudia Monteiro has always had an interest in construction and working with her hands, but activism came from a different set of skills.
“When I see something I don’t like, I speak up,” she explained unapologetically.
With that attitude, it is no wonder the 6-year member has been a reliable and effective activist for the union and her community. A Newark, New Jersey resident and mother of two, Claudia found her way to the Laborers Union after a marital separation sent her scrambling for a good job and a steady income.
“It was an acquaintance of mine who encouraged me to apply to the union,” she said. “I had experience doing different types of work–sheetrock, painting, fencing–but I needed something more. I applied in July and was brought into the union and dispatched to work in August. The Union literally saved me!”
One conversation with Claudia and you can understand how gratitude and giving back shapes her life. When her son’s pre-school was able to provide additional services to help her son, she became an unofficial spokesperson for the school sharing her positive experience at community and governmental meetings. Her involvement in the union followed a similar track. She enjoys working for the Jersey City Housing Authority performing modernization of its residential units, but the hard work during the day doesn’t stop her from answering the call to organize, promote the union and serve her community when asked. In fact, she is scheduled to soon represent LIUNA and speak to another public housing authority.
The reason for Caludia’s involvement is simple, she explained. “When an organization like LIUNA supports me as they have done, I am always ready to support them back.”
Meet Frank Johnson
Laborers Local 199
There are “yes men.” You know, those people who always agree with everything the boss says. They are common. Then, there are “yeah, man!” people, a rarer species. These are the always willing, can-do attitude people who are glad to step forward and volunteer and step up when times get difficult.
Consider Local 199’s Frank Johnson one of the latter. To any challenge, any opportunity, there’s Frank saying, yeah, man, I’ll do it!” It is an attitude that has propelled Frank over the last 17-years in the union and one that defines his life.
“I have never turned down a job. People have warned me, this job or that job is too hard, or too far, or the hours stink, and I would take it anyway. Saying yes is a great way to go through life.”
To understand this perspective, perhaps we should go back to Frank’s beginning in LIUNA.
“My first child was on the way. The jobs I had before LIUNA were lousy and I was underpaid, he recalled. “I consider joining the union a blessing. Back then, I didn’t even know what $20 an hour felt like. I can remember receiving my first paycheck and telling myself, this is where I want to be!”
Of course, for all the good, purchasing his first home, being able to support his family, and looking forward to returning in comfort and dignity, Frank also has great empathy for those who lack union protection and rights on the job. “Just look around and you will see people in their 60s, 70s, even 80s still working. Not all of them want to be in the workforce,” he explained, “but without a union, without the wages and benefits, they are now left with no other choice. It is sad to see and something we shouldn’t accept.”
Meet David Rojas
LIUNA Local 79, New York City
It was lunchtime in midtown Manhattan when we caught up with David at his jobsite. Understanding the physical demands of work, we are mindful of a member’s time and the need for nourishment and rest. David was thinking about something else, however. After quickly grabbing a sandwich from a nearby food truck, the Queens native was off to a nearby informational line set up by Local 79. He would spend his lunch hour with approximately 20-other members handing out leaflets that raise concerns about work being done nearby by a non-union contractor.
“LIUNA is like a family to me. We look out for each other and care for each other,” said the 7-year member. David is proud to serve as captain in the Queens Brigade and enthusiastically describes the lobbying he has done in Albany, the job actions he attends on a regular basis, and the community board meetings he frequents. Regarding the latter, David explains the importance of showing up early in the development process. “While plans are still being discussed and before any permit is ever pulled, LIUNA members like me show up at meetings and let decision-makers know that we expect all work to be Union work.”
His favorite memory as a Brigade member? “We went after this one contractor particularly hard. It took a long time and a lot of effort to bring them to the table and they eventually signed a collective bargaining agreement with us. The next time I was dispatched to work, I was sent to one of this contractor’s projects. In a way, I literally created my own job!”
Of course, for all the good, purchasing his first home, being able to support his family, and looking forward to returning in comfort and dignity, Frank also has great empathy for those who lack union protection and rights on the job. “Just look around and you will see people in their 60s, 70s, even 80s still working. Not all of them want to be in the workforce,” he explained, “but without a union, without the wages and benefits, they are now left with no other choice. It is sad to see and something we shouldn’t accept.”