National Dir. of Organization and Field Services, AFL-CIO
SEIU
1973
In 1973 I was the business agent for a local union in Boston. I applied for the TUP Program and was looking forward to attending. In that year, the year of a record snowstorm and a frozen Charles River pushed back our starting date because many of the attendees were stranded in airports around the country because Logan Airport was closed. Even after it reopened Boston restricted auto travel without a special permit. We finally came together and started on of the best experiences of my labor career. After Harvard I continued in my local union until I was offered a job with the AFL-CIO New England region of the national AFL-CIO and was assigned to Rhode Island. That position offered me the opportunity to work with the Rhode Island state AFL-CIO and its affiliates. This experience expanded my appreciation for coordinating organizing activity, legislative action at the state house, and implementing national AFL-CIO programs and initiatives. A few years later I was selected by the national AFL-CIO to be an Assistant Director of the Department of Organization and Field Services in Washington, DC. And ultimately was appointed director of the department.
What impact has the HTUP had on your life/career? The HTUP program is the best educational opportunity any trade unionist can have. It brought to me the opportunity to expand my appreciation, not only for the universal trade union experience but also for my desire to understand and defend the role of labor unions in the USA. My experience with the joint MBA candidates at the “B” school was my favorite portion of the HTUP experience. It prepared me well for the rest of my labor career.
Do you have an interesting/funny story of when you attended the program? Yes, I do! There were several African trade unionists in our class. Boston had yet to earnestly address the issue of school desegregation. I was living in what was referred to as “Lace Irish neighborhood of Jamaica Plain”
It occurred to me, given the situation, that I would invite Africans to my home for hospitality and dinner. As they started to arrive, I was delighted by the way they were dressed. All in colorful garments familiar in their native country. This only intensified their arrival to my front door. Needless to say, that my neighbors were astonished and probably disappointed. My wife and children were delighted, as was I for the most memorable visit we ever had in that neighborhood.
P.S. If you plan to print this report you will have to have it printed by a “union” printer!
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