Laborers' International Union of North America. Local 156 Records
Dates
- Majority of material found within 1903-2002, 1919-1940-2000
Scope and Content Note
The records of the Laborers' International Union of North America comprise approximately 3 cubic feet of material (1 manuscript box, ½ manuscript box, one oversized flat box, and one cardboard Paige box). The collection includes materials collected to support the research of John Clancy, a former president of Local 156 who wrote a 2001 thesis for the Rutgers University History Department's Graduate Program, A Study of Business Unionism in the Labor Movement and Local 156. Clancy curated an exhibition in 2002 at Rutgers University's Alexander Library. A copy of Clancy's thesis and the exhibition catalog are included.
Other items in the collection include publications and reports from the International Union. Financial records, correspondence, dues stamps, election ballots, and contracts detail the business of Local 156. Photographs show local union members on the job in the community. Other photographs highlight the influence of Local 156 on New Brunswick's landscape during an 85-year period, showing workers on the job, and the results of their work. Reproductions of the charters of the International and Local Unions show the dates of incorporation and their founders. Well-worn work clothes (three hats and two jackets) with the union's lettering or logo are also included. The collection includes many of the photographs and other materials displayed in the 2002 library exhibition, as well as many materials collected in Clancy's research but not displayed.
Extent
3 cubic feet (2 manuscript boxes, 1 flat/oversized box, and 1 Paige box)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The current-day Laborers' International Union of North America was founded in 1903 and its New Brunswick Local 156 in 1915. Records of the international and local unions detail their history. (Local 156 was disbanded in 2000.) Based on the collection, and his history as a member, vice president and president of Local 156, John Clancy wrote a thesis and later developed an exhibition at Rutgers University Libraries, Who Built New Brunswick? The History of the International Hod Carriers Union Local 156. The exhibition was showcased April 8-July 31, 2002. Clancy's works and collected documents focus on the local union, especially its members and construction projects. Documents and publications from the International Union discuss reorganization and reform efforts in the late 1990s through 2000.
Administrative History
The International Hod Carriers and Building Laborers Union of America was established April 17, 1903, at a meeting of 25 delegates representing 8,000 laborers from 17 cities across America. These delegates had been urged by Samuel Gompers, the founder and president (from 1886 to 1924) of the American Federation of Labor (AFL), to fight for decent wages, shorter hours and better working conditions. In his letter calling on the laborers of America to unite, Gompers urged them to form a delegate-based democratic union, national or international in scope. This practice survives to this day, as local union members still vote for delegates to the national conventions. The American Federation of Labor's charter granted the new union a charter with the following jurisdiction of work:
Wrecking of buildings, excavation of buildings, digging of trenches, piers and foundations. Digging of holes, and caisson work … concrete for buildings, whether foundations, floors or any other, whether done by hand or any other process. Tending to Masons, mixing and handling all materials used by Masons … building of scaffold for Masons and plasterers. Building of centers fire proving purposes, tending to carpenters … tending to and mixing all materials for plastering, whether done by hand or any other process. Clearing of debris from buildings … shoring, underpinning and raising of old buildings.By 1906 the Hod Carriers Union had taken in local unions that had been members of competing associations in Massachusetts and Ohio. With the incorporation of these locals, the Laborers Union had organized more locals than any other craft union in the building trades. In 1912 the AFL granted the Hod Carriers Union further jurisdiction over common laborers employed in the construction of streets, sewers and tunnels, and concrete mixers. In December 1912 the union was given a longer name to encompass its expanded membership: the International Hod Carriers' Building and Common Laborers' Union of America. Also in 1912, the Brotherhood of Cement Workers was subsumed into the Hod Carriers Union. Construction activity in New Brunswick was increasing in the early 1900s, with much of the work done by immigrants, especially Italians. The local laborers realized that they were vulnerable to ethnic prejudices from former immigrants who settled in America before them as well as from native-born citizens. The laborers of New Brunswick soon applied for membership in the International Union, and on February 15, 1915, the Laborers of Local 156 received their original charter. That year, the laborers set up the first union hiring hall of Local 156 at 120 Church Street. The original officers were Domiano Toni, Giuseppe Lombardo, Magri Agatino, Lorre Pietro, Beni Giuseppe, Francesco Bricuglio, Lopresti Sabestiano and Toni Rusciano. These men, mostly of Italian descent, possessed a strong work ethic and held a spirit of collectivism in their attitude toward their community. They welcomed new immigrants in period of discrimination against non-native workers in America. It was also a time when contractors regarded laborers as a commodity, with Laborers doing the least desirable work in the construction industry. Between 1917 and 1920, union membership in the United States increased from about 3 million to 5.1 million.1 Many union members who had helped build the Raritan Arsenal from 1910 to 1920 were already employed there in 1917. In November 1917, the Hod Carriers Union became truly international as it merged with the International Compressed Air and Foundation Workers of United States and Canada. In 1919, six months after the end of World War I, the Hod Carriers Union took control of all laborers in shipyards in the United States. Throughout the economic boom of the 1920s, the Hod Carriers Union continued to grow, reaching nearly 100,000 members in 1929. That year, the Tunnel and Subway Contractors' Union of America merged with the Hod Carriers. In the 1930s, many smaller unions joined the Hod Carriers. The Great Depression caused a lack of work and a decline in union membership. Those mergers sometimes allowed racketeers to infiltrate the union. In 1932 New Brunswick had 7,000 jobless. From 1936 to 1939 the AFL and the Congress of Industrial Organizations experienced tremendous growth in membership. By 1939 these unions were instrumental in President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal policies establishing national social programs such as Social Security, unemployment compensation, workers' compensation, and a federal minimum wage-hour law. In 1937 the International Union of Pavers, Rammermen, Flag Layers, Bridge and Stone Curb Setters joined the Hod Carriers Union. In New Brunswick, Matthew J. Nasdeo, who went by his middle name of John, became the Local 156 business agent in the 1930s (the exact date is lost) and ruled the local for three decades. Few union records from that period exist. As business agent, Nasdeo was responsible for collecting dues, initiation fees and other assessments on members. A 1942 investigation uncovered discrepancies in these collections, with substantial amounts of money going to Nasdeo, who escaped criminal prosecution. Nasdeo's graft was accepted in the 1940s because members were also making money during a construction boom that started during World War II. One of the Hod Carriers' largest jobs was the construction, beginning in 1942, of Camp Kilmer, now the site of Rutgers University's Livingston Campus. At this time, Local 156 shared offices with the Somerville Laborers Local 779, at 120 Church Street, New Brunswick. By 1944, the Local 156 office moved to Nasdeo's home at 74 Carroll Street. For job assignments, rank-and-file members reported to homes of Nasdeo or other union officers. This practice not only saved rental money but also showed the power of officers to the members. In the late 1950s, Nasdeo appointed his son Al as his successor, and Al Nasdeo was re-elected in 1960. Also in 1960, Carmen De Andrea Sr. became union president at age 26. By then the union had a temporary hall in a store on Remsen Avenue that belonged to De Andrea's father, Tony. Al Nasdeo was brought up on charges and replaced as business agent by Carmen De Andrea Sr. in 1962. De Andrea was appointed by Michael Lorello, the union's International Vice President, and Local 156 members confirmed the appointment in a 1963 election. De Andrea moved the union hall to the White Eagle Tavern at 18 Scott Street. During De Andrea's tenure as business agent, the Local's territory grew to be the largest in New Jersey. Membership swelled to nearly 800. De Andrea established numerous funds for members: a welfare (medical) plan in 1962, a pension plan in 1963, and an annuity plan in 1984. In 1973, the local moved its union hall to 271 Remsen Avenue, where it remained until its merger in 2000. De Andrea in 1996 negotiated the first statewide contract for the laborers in New Jersey. He retired in 1998. At Local 156's Retirement and Awards Dinner in 1995, De Andrea is seen front and center in a group photo of honorees. Though De Andrea by all accounts was completely honest and ethical, during his tenure some officers and shop stewards juggled the local union's books, or demanded bribes and favors. In 1965 the union renamed itself the Laborers' International Union of North America, reflecting its expanded focus, including organization of municipal, state and university employees, as the Teamsters were also doing. In the International Union, mobsters exerted control from its start in 1903, especially in Chicago. Of its six general presidents, five have been associated with organized crime. These general presidents included Joseph V. Moreschi (1926-1968), Peter Fosco (1968-1975), his son Angelo Fosco (1975-1993), and Arthur A. Coia (1993-1999). In a 1995 report, the U.S. Justice Department drafted a complaint against the Laborers' Union, describing Coia as "the latest union president, to have been associated with and controlled and influenced by, organized crime figures." The union distributed to members literature discussing their reform efforts. In 1996, the union distributed a glossy booklet, Honest Reform: How the Laborers Are Cleaning Their Own House. In this booklet, the union acknowledged the influence of organized crime in major cities such as Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland, New York and St. Louis. Because of these reform efforts, the union was able to avoid the U.S. government putting it under trusteeship, and Coia retired with full pay for life at the end of 1999. The General Executive Board elected Terence M. O'Sullivan to succeed Coia as of Jan. 1, 2000, and the general membership confirmed the election in 2001. O'Sullivan continues in that position in 2006. In 1996 the National Federation of Independent Unions had joined the Laborers' Union, including workers in the gas utility, industrial and manufacturing occupations. As a result of this merger, and to satisfy reform efforts, the Laborers' Union disbanded some locals, including Local 156. O'Sullivan informed the local unions in New Brunswick and Perth Amboy that they would be merged into a new Local 594 as of Sept. 1, 2000, ending Local 156 after 85 years. The Laborers' Union and the International Union of Operating Engineers, with a total of 1.1 million members, left the AFL-CIO as of March 1, 2006, to form the National Construction Alliance.2 With other member unions joining, the new Alliance expected to have 2 million members upon its founding. Of those, approximately 800,000 are members of the Laborers' Union.3 The International Union is located in Washington, D.C. A timeline, The Laborers' International Union at 100: Looking Back, Moving Forward, is available at http://www.liuna.org/about/media/timeline.pdf [retrieved April 29, 2006]. Major Projects of Local 156 The following presents some highlights of projects completed by the Laborers' Union. For more complete information, the reader is urged to consult Who Built New Brunswick? The History of the International Hod Carriers Union Local 156, by John Clancy, a catalog of the 2002 exhibition at Rutgers University's Alexander Library, titled Who Built New Brunswick? The History of the International Hod Carriers Union Local 156. This catalog is included in the collected manuscripts. The two hospitals in the currently nicknamed Healthcare City of New Brunswick provided steady work for Local 156 throughout its history. In 1916, members of Local 156 worked on the first addition to Middlesex General Hospital, now Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital. In 1926, the Laborers helped complete the first two floors of the Brown Street Building, increasing the hospital's bed count to 110. Major expansions and renovations were completed in 1937, 1942 and 1959. The Laborers worked on these projects as well as other expansion efforts in the late 1950s and 1960s. In 1977, the Laborers began construction on the Medical Education Building adjacent to the hospital. They also helped build the Clinical Academic Building, which opened in January 1995; the Cancer Institute of New Jersey, in 1997; and the Bristol-Myers Squibb Children's Hospital in 2001. From its beginnings, Local 156 also worked on the expansions at St. Peter's General Hospital, now St. Peter's University Hospital. Some of the laborers who applied for the Local 156 charter worked on the St. Peter's maternity ward and children's wing that opened in 1915. St. Peter's continued its expansion. St. Mary's Catholic Orphan Asylum and Home for the Aged closed in 1926, and Laborers were involved in its demolition. Their work cleared the way for a new hospital at its present-day site on Easton Avenue. The relocated St. Peter's Hospital opened October 29, 1929. Throughout the 1950s, the Laborers worked during another period of expansion at St. Peter's, including helping to build the emergency room, outpatient department, and two new wings. They also helped demolishing the old nursing school to make way for construction. There were other additions in the 1970s and 1980s including a seven-story parking garage. A new seven-story multipurpose office building was completed in 1990; a new Radiation Oncology Facility in 1992; and the Women's Pavilion in 1993. In the 1970s, New Brunswick, like many cities in America, was the site of urban decay. In the late 1970s, the Laborers tore down virtually all of Downtown New Brunswick to make way for commercial development, led by Johnson & Johnson (J&J). Laborers worked on the construction of J&J's World Headquarters and the Hyatt Regency Hotel simultaneously in 1979. The work included large-scale excavations, the installation of sanitary lines for sewers and storm drainage systems, and continuous pumping of mud holes to support large structures like the Hyatt. Some of the Laborers' significant projects in the 1980s included Ferren Mall, a large parking deck and shopping area; and the Golden Triangle Plaza office building and adjacent parking deck. Laborers also worked on the University Center at Easton Avenue, which opened in 1992. This structure includes a parking deck, housing for Rutgers University students, stores and restaurants. The Laborers worked on several projects to provide affordable housing for senior citizens in the 1980s. The projects included the current Frank Schatzman Apartments, at 90 Nielsen Street, completed in 1983; St. Mary's Apartments at 260 Remsen Avenue, a warehouse converted from Bond's clothing factory; and the Providence Square Senior Citizens residential facility in 1994. The current New Brunswick Cultural Center, completed in the 1980s and 1990s, provided additional work to the Laborers. The George Street Playhouse and the Crossroads Theatre reopened in new locations on Livingston Avenue in 1985 and 1991 respectively. The historic State Theatre reopened in 1988, after numerous years of decline. The Laborers had also helped to construct the State Theatre in 1921. Both the original construction and the refurbishment were non-typical jobs because of the building's unique design, including intricate wall and ceiling designs that enhanced the theater's aesthetic qualities. The Laborers worked at Rutgers University continually, involved in building new facilities, additions and renovations throughout the New Brunswick/Piscataway campus. In addition to their work on student centers, dormitories and libraries, the Laborers worked extensively on building and expanding athletic facilities. They helped to build the Louis Brown Athletic Center in 1977, and to modernize it in 1998. They also helped expand Rutgers Stadium in 1994, to a seating capacity of 42,000. Construction and renovation projects at Rutgers were stepped up in the summer months. Significant work on dormitories, as well as some academic and administrative buildings, was completed before the academic year began in September. This work included general renovations and repair, as well as work to allow wiring the buildings for data, video and voice services. Squibb & Sons, later Bristol-Myers Squibb, provided a boon for the local construction industry and Local 156 throughout its history. New Brunswick's hod carriers performed most of the work at the site in the early 20th century, including construction of the mechanical shop and two dormitories. Throughout the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s the Laborers worked on renovations and expansion at Squibb. Building 59, completed in 1943, was immediately put to use as the largest plant in the United States for mass-producing purified penicillin. Penicillin was in high demand to treat bacterial infections of World War II soldiers. Laborers continued their association with Squibb as it continued to expand throughout the 1960s through the 1990s.
Notes
(1) F. Ray Marshall and Vernon M. Briggs Jr., Labor Economics: Theory, Institutions, and Public Policy, 6th ed., Homewood, Ill: Irwin, 1989 (Page 312). (2) Laborers' Union, Operating Engineers to Disaffiliate From AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades [news release], at the LIUNA Web site: http://www.liuna.org/homeindex/TradesHelpWorkers/release.pdf [retrieved April 30, 2006]. (3) Fact Sheet: The Laborers' International Union of North America, at the LIUNA Web site, http://www.liuna.org/homeindex/TradesHelpWorkers/factsheet.pdf [retrieved April 30, 2006].
Arrangement Note
There was no true order to these records, which were acquired and collated by former union president John Clancy. These items have been arranged by material type (standard-size paper documents, photographs, oversized items, and clothing) and then by subject. Documents related to the International and Local Unions are arranged in rough chronological order within subject files, oldest first. There is a high level of inconsistency and many gaps in the local union's business records. The records included here are those that somehow survived the union's move to different locations, where they were stored haphazardly. Financial records from the 1940s are more plentiful than those from any other period, though also with large gaps. After 1952, only sporadic random records are available. The longest gap is between 1953 and 1971. Historical photos from most periods in the local union's history, starting in the 1930s, are available. Some of these photos are not directly related to the union or its members, but rather place their work in context of construction at the time. Fragile documents and original photos have been placed in plastic sleeves. Duplicate copies of reproduced, scanned photos have been discarded.
General
(1) F. Ray Marshall and Vernon M. Briggs Jr., Labor Economics: Theory, Institutions, and Public Policy, 6th ed., Homewood, Ill: Irwin, 1989 (Page 312).
General
(2) Laborers' Union, Operating Engineers to Disaffiliate From AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades [news release], at the LIUNA Web site: http://www.liuna.org/homeindex/TradesHelpWorkers/release.pdf [retrieved April 30, 2006].
General
(3) Fact Sheet: The Laborers' International Union of North America, at the LIUNA Web site, http://www.liuna.org/homeindex/TradesHelpWorkers/factsheet.pdf [retrieved April 30, 2006].
General
(1) F. Ray Marshall and Vernon M. Briggs Jr., Labor Economics: Theory, Institutions, and Public Policy, 6th ed., Homewood, Ill: Irwin, 1989 (Page 312).
General
(2) Laborers' Union, Operating Engineers to Disaffiliate From AFL-CIO's Building and Construction Trades [news release], at the LIUNA Web site: http://www.liuna.org/homeindex/TradesHelpWorkers/release.pdf [retrieved April 30, 2006].
General
(3) Fact Sheet: The Laborers' International Union of North America, at the LIUNA Web site, http://www.liuna.org/homeindex/TradesHelpWorkers/factsheet.pdf [retrieved April 30, 2006].
- Construction workers--Labor unions--New Jersey--New Brunswick--History.
- Labor movement--United States--History.
- Labor unions--New Jersey--New Brunswick--History.
- Labor unions--New Jersey--New Brunswick--Political activity--History.
- New Brunswick (N.J.)--Buildings, structures, etc.
- Rutgers University -- New Brunswick (N.J.)--Buildings, structures, etc.
- Title
- Inventory to the Laborers' International Union of North America. Local 156 Records MC 1410
- Status
- Edited Full Draft
- Author
- Eric Schwarz
- Date
- May 2006
- Language of description note
- Finding aid is written in English.
- Sponsor
- Special Collections and University Archives, Rutgers University received an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.
Part of the New Brunswick Special Collections Repository