FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1893 Printed in the USA International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Vol. 10 | No. 8 | August 2016 IBEW News Powering Down Calif.’s last nuclear plant to close 5 Living by the Code Las Vegas utility partnership fuels cooperation 6 How to Win in Organizing Persistence and a good message 7 What’s the NLRB? Don’t know? You should. Here’s why. 7 Photo used under a Creative Commons License courtesy Flickr user Holly High Visibility Plea Many of Trump’s developments were built in New York City and New Jersey using IBEW Del. local seeks contractors, but most in the rest of the U.S. and Canada were built nonunion. kidney for member 20 Does Trump Build Union? Water, Rest, Shade The key to a safe AN IBEW INVESTIGATION summer outside 20 beam and electrical wire was put in place EDITOR’S NOTE: To assure members of the accura- by union hands. cy of the information included in this article, it con- Former Local 3 business representative In This Issue tains endnotes. The rest of the information and Austin McCann — who was the shop steward quotes are from our interviews with IBEW leaders. North of 49° 8 on the original Trump Tower — arranged the meeting with Trump, not for Erikson, but for Circuits 9 t the height of the real estate boom in New Orleans Local 130 Business Manager 2005, Donald Trump announced a colos- Robert “Tiger” Hammond. “Then Trump says it isn’t his job, it is his son’s and he Transitions 10 sus would rise in central New Orleans. The “We were pitching Trump on using the same union turns to Erikson and said, ‘You know I work union.’” 70-story Trump Tower would be the tallest In Memoriam 11 A in New Orleans that he has been using for decades in “It looks like you work union when you have to, building on the Gulf Coast outside of Houston and the New York City,” Hammond said. “I went with good but when you don’t, you don’t,” Erikson said. highest point in the state of Louisiana. Local Lines 12 intentions and thought we had an honest chance.” Trump’s son, Donald Jr., was called into the The development ultimately failed. But before Trump, Erikson, McCann and Hammond met in meeting and said he would ask the general contractor Editorials 18 it did, New York City Local 3 Business Manager the executive suite of the Trump Tower on Fifth Ave- to look into it. The meeting was over. Chris Erikson hosted a meeting in Donald Trump’s nue, and Hammond made his pitch. Local 130 did all “I am glad Chris said what he did — what I was Letters to the Editor 19 office to talk about the job. In Manhattan, Trump’s the work on Harrah’s $1.6 billion casino on the water- thinking and couldn’t say,” Hammond said. “We home and the site of many of his developments, the Who We Are 19 front and does every electrical job in the city over expected more. He pawned me off on his son and we building trades are strong and nearly every steel $1 million. He had a stack of letters from customers left with a bad feeling.” saying Local 130 did its work on time and on budget. Trump reportedly took 175 condominium deposits1 Would Trump consider a project labor agreement? on the property before Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and the Trump’s response: Why me? real estate collapse and recession of 2008. In 2011 — six “He said ‘There are 10 projects on that block. years after the meeting in Trump Tower — the lot was Why do I have to be union? Why are you picking on foreclosed on and sold to a parking lot company. me?’” Hammond said. Hammond never heard back from Trump, his Trump, Hammond said, thought unions only son or the general contractor in charge. did 10 percent of jobs in New Orleans. “I told him that was a myth and a fallacy and I asked him to talk to our customers,” Hammond said. DOES TRUMP BUILD UNION? continued on page 2 WWW.IBEW.ORG 2 The Electrical Worker | August 2016 Continued from page 1 Does Trump Build Union? AN IBEW INVESTIGATION Why are You Picking ager] Harry Van Arsdale and Trump’s father,” said Erikson, who is also chair- on Me? man of the International Executive Council. “But it was not such a great Donald Trump developed, owns, or licens- relationship.” es his name to at least 45 buildings in the Most of the work done on Trump U.S. and Canada in the jurisdictions of 17 owned or developed sites was done by IBEW local unions. members of the Building & Construction A review of the Republican presiden- Trades Council of Greater New York. Most, tial nominee’s projects reveals that he but not all. hires union when project labor agree- Trump Tower, where he announced ments or dominant market share force his presidential campaign, was built on a him to. But more than 60 percent of his site cleared by undocumented immigrant projects developed outside New York City laborers from Poland.8 and Atlantic City — which includes most The tower was built on the site of Bon- of his recent projects — were built non- wit Teller, a landmark stone fortress that for union. When you exclude developments decades was filled with fur coats, French with project labor agreements, that jumps dresses and fine jewelry. But in 1980, a pla- to nearly 80 percent built nonunion. toon of 200 undocumented immigrants According to thousands of lawsuits from Poland worked round the clock, seven filed against him and his companies, days a week tearing it down in preparation when union contractors were hired, for the black glass and marble tower to rise. Trump developed a reputation for ducking Three years later, a member of the Demoli- the bill on some, delaying payment on tion Workers Local 95 sued Trump for trying others and shorting workers on overtime to avoid paying union 2 and even minimum wage. wages and benefits. The lawsuits included 60 for not After an eight-year paying his bills, 24 violations of the Fair trial, the U.S. District 3 Labor Standards Act and four corporate Court for the Southern bankruptcies that left hundreds of con- District of New York Public domain tractors with dimes, nickels, even pen- wrote, “No records were nies on the dollar. He has been sued for kept, no Social Security hiring undocumented workers, presided or other taxes were with- over thousands of layoffs and acquired held, and they were not tens of millions of dollars in personal paid in accordance with 4 wealth while companies he owned failed. wage laws. They were At least five of the companies he has told they would be paid owned have terminated health insurance $4.00 or in some cases for employees, ended retiree health insur- $5.00 an hour for work- ance, canceled their pension plans or ing 12-hour shifts seven 5 some combination of all three. days a week. In fact they Like all politicians, Trump has made were paid irregularly Photo used under a Creative Commons License statements, issued campaign promises and and incompletely, some- courtesy Flickr user PatricksMercy taken positions on policies. Trump has also times with [the subcon- been clear about his support for policies Two hundred undocumented tractor’s] personal Polish workers tore down that have historically led to weaker unions. checks, which were He told the South Carolina Radio Net- historic New York department returned by the bank for store Bonwit Teller in the work, for example, that he is “100 percent insufficient funds.”9 1980s, the home of Trump for right-to-work”6 and in December he One of the workers Tower. Trump fought their said right-to-work states have an “advan- told the New York Times lawsuit seeking unpaid wages 7 tage” because “you have the lower wage.” they often worked in in court for nearly 20 years. Photo used under a Creative Commons License courtesy Flickr user Brad_T But Trump is the first major party “choking clouds of candidate for president of the United asbestos dust without ‘The Money I Took out of “Every wire was our work, and there said, had a story. Resorts International States whose business is also the IBEW’s 10 was a lot of work,” Cosner said. began construction on the Taj Mahal in protective equipment.” There was Incredible’ business: construction. Under oath, Trump denied that he The glory days were short for Trump 1983, but the company founder died three Trump and his companies own doz- ever visited the construction site and said in Atlantic City, and when Cosner recently years later before the project was com- After New York City, Trump is most closely ens of developments in 11 states and two he had no idea what was going on. It was spoke to contractors about working with plete. Trump bought a controlling interest associated with the three casinos he built provinces that tell their own story about a claim contradicted by sworn testimony Trump, they didn’t think the glory days in Resorts International in 1987, renamed in Atlantic City. In 1976, New Jersey voters his position toward labor, small business and the court found that Trump’s account were really that great. it Trump Resorts International and called passed a referendum approving casino and working people. It begins in New was not credible.11 “They didn’t have much good to in Taj Mahal contractors to sign new con- gambling for Atlantic City.