Latest / OneLegUpAlex Media / LaborPress Radio Featuring John Durso, President of Local 338 and Viscardi Center Board Member, and Alex Garrett 9-5-24

Transcript

LaborPress Radio Featuring John Durso, President of Local 338 and Viscardi Center Board Member, and Alex Garrett 9-5-24 · OneLegUpAlex Media

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: All right here at the High speed Rail Network conference.
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: I'm a Jounder So and John you are MC here
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: at teams As Local two eighty two with Labor Press
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: and you are actually the president of Loyland Federation of
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Labor and Local three thirty eight.
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me today. It's my pleasure, happy to
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: be here.
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: So your message today was very Loyland focused. Tell us
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: about why this high speed rail could affect and could
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: help Long Island.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Well, this this project is a long time coming. Uh.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: You know, they're doing it in California. They're doing it.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: They've done it successfully in parts of Florida. They want
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: to do it in Texas. The opportunity to.
• 0:40
  Speaker 3: Connect Washington, d C, New York City in Boston is
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: absolutely vital.
• 0:47
  Speaker 2: To the future of the Northeast.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: And if you're going to be involved in the Northeast,
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: Long Island has to be.
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: A player in this. Absolutely.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: Well, we are three million of your closest friends and relatives. Okay,
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: everybody knows everybody on Long Island and people are literally
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: working in the city from Long Island, right, So what
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: are the stats on that if you have well.
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: There's a tremendous amount.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: But you know, during since COVID and so many people
• 1:13
  Speaker 3: have now learned to work from home.
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: You have a good combination of both.
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: All right, So, but look, New York City, regardless of
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: what other people might feel, New York City is the
• 1:25
  Speaker 3: center of the world.
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 1:27
  Speaker 3: Everything is built around New York City, and if things
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: are going to get done, New York City has to
• 1:32
  Speaker 3: be involved in this high speed real project can be
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: and will be an economic engine for tens of thousands
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: of people in this region, you know.
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: And it will be the future, and it is the future.
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: And so we in Long Island want to make sure
• 1:52
  Speaker 3: that not only are we involved with it, but we
• 1:56
  Speaker 3: take a leading role in making this project happen.
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, I'm thinking on railroad because obviously that's
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: where where you guys had that experience dealing with the
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: l r R. You can take that experience and say, hey,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: we can we know how to work a rail system.
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: So involved us right now, there's no there's no question
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: about it.
• 2:11
  Speaker 3: Now there's money in the infrastructure bill for improvement in
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: the Northeast with the cell line. But there's tens of
• 2:20
  Speaker 3: millions of dollars in the infrastructure bill that can be
• 2:24
  Speaker 3: used to kickstart this program. And let's face it, you
• 2:27
  Speaker 3: will never have a more pro union administration that we
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: currently have. And working with the Biden Harris administration and
• 2:38
  Speaker 3: then UH in the next over the next four years,
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: if Vice President Harris is elected, we know that that
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: project will continue.
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: And this is an.
• 2:48
  Speaker 3: Opportunity to improve the quality of life for people on
• 2:52
  Speaker 3: Long Island, not just for them, but for their children
• 2:55
  Speaker 3: and grandchildren.
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: This is that kind of a game changing project.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: I hear this high spiracle also attract like different kind
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: of job, not just on the rail, but like the
• 3:05
  Speaker 1: entertainment hospitality.
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: Right, absolutely, yes, this is this job.
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: When you have something like this, when you have you
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: put a dollar in infrastructure, you get three dollars back
• 3:16
  Speaker 3: in ancinellity, jobs.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: And money into the economy.
• 3:19
  Speaker 3: So you're talking about food, entertainment, hotels, all of that
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: is involved when you do a project like this.
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: You know, when we have built things on.
• 3:31
  Speaker 3: The round, all of the communities, all the communities are
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: affected and gained from it. So and all the women
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: and men of the labor movement are the best trained,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: the most motivated workforce you will ever meet.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: And all people here, all going on, are ready to
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: do this project all.
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: Right, Well, obviously you have to deal with day to
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: day things as well along and so when people turn
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: to Long Island Federation of Labor, what can they.
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: Expect people come to us.
• 4:01
  Speaker 3: We are an advocate for working families here in our region.
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  Speaker 2: And while we are bases on Long Island.
• 4:10
  Speaker 3: In my other positions, you know, I have I'm an
• 4:13
  Speaker 3: international president with my with my the ufcw THERWT issue,
• 4:17
  Speaker 3: so I have the opportunity to learn and speak to.
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: People around the country.
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  Speaker 3: But when you come to the Long Island FED, you're
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: going to get the very best of what we have
• 4:28
  Speaker 3: to offer. And that is not only the quality of
• 4:32
  Speaker 3: the people who are our affiliates, but the people that
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: we can speak to in Washington, the people that we
• 4:39
  Speaker 3: could speak to in Albany, and the people that we
• 4:41
  Speaker 3: can speak.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: To in the City of New York. That is who
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: we are.
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  Speaker 3: We're a service organization and we're all about making sure
• 4:49
  Speaker 3: that the people we represent and.
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: It's a privilege.
• 4:52
  Speaker 3: It's a privilege to represent working people and our jobs
• 4:56
  Speaker 3: to make their lives better, and that's what we do
• 4:58
  Speaker 3: each and every day.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: I feel like the other side makes it very separable
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: about the union. So for those skeptics out there, how
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: do you ease their fears of joining a union?
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: Like, don't tell me about that.
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: So, seventy percent of the American workforce, or seventy percent,
• 5:11
  Speaker 3: i should say, of the American people, feel very positively
• 5:15
  Speaker 3: about the union movement. There is no reason anybody should
• 5:20
  Speaker 3: be skeptical about.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: Joining a union. Our mission is to improve the life
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: of our members. The employer is not our enemy. The
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: employer is our partner. Sure no employer is.
• 5:33
  Speaker 3: Able to do his job without working the working women
• 5:37
  Speaker 3: and men of labor. It does us no good to
• 5:44
  Speaker 3: put an employer out of business because that affects our jobs.
• 5:48
  Speaker 3: We make an agreement, we negotiate contracts, We shake that
• 5:52
  Speaker 3: employee's hand.
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: We keep to it. We don't break the rule.
• 5:57
  Speaker 3: Okay, if the employee breaks breaks the rule, we address it.
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: But odd job is to lift up people, lift up families,
• 6:06
  Speaker 3: and give hope to those who don't have hope, speak
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: for those who have no voice, to encourage people to
• 6:13
  Speaker 3: be the best they can be.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: That's what the labor woman's about. That's what we do
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: each and every day. I feel like last year had
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: a lot of labor dispute ry.
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: I mean you saw the second after and all that
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: this year has been a low commerce, So that cordiality
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: between employer union helps the year go smoother, doesn't it.
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: Well, look, as long as employees understand that people are
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: entitled to be treated with dignity and respect, that people
• 6:41
  Speaker 4: are entitled to make a living, Nobody objects to an
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: employee of making a profit.
• 6:46
  Speaker 3: He should make a property, he's investment, but he does
• 6:48
  Speaker 3: not make that profit without the men and women that
• 6:51
  Speaker 3: do the job.
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: So they're entitled to have.
• 6:54
  Speaker 3: A living wage, a good wage, to be able to
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: retire with dignity, have good healthcare, to have job protections.
• 7:03
  Speaker 3: When an employee decides they don't deserve that because it
• 7:06
  Speaker 3: might have fringe upon his bottom line, well then.
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: That's a problem.
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: As someone with disability, you know full disclosure. Gear are
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: the members that are disabled in your union? How do
• 7:18
  Speaker 1: you represent them?
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: Represent them very same way we represent everybody else. We
• 7:24
  Speaker 3: represent everybody the same way. You have a problem, we
• 7:28
  Speaker 3: try to help you. If we can't help you, we'll
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: find a way to do something to help you. This
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: is about a family. The union movement is a family.
• 7:36
  Speaker 3: About protecting the people we.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: Represent and you know, I was just thinking people disability
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: sometimes don't work, so you probably encourage people at work.
• 7:44
  Speaker 2: Of course, Listen, I have the honor of sitting on
• 7:47
  Speaker 2: the board of the Viscati Center. Yes it did, Okay, So.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: It is a phenomenal organization, phenomenal, and you know it's
• 7:56
  Speaker 3: it's it's an honor for me to sit on that board, Okay.
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  Speaker 2: And that's what we do.
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  Speaker 3: Look, everybody, everybody has the same dream.
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: They want to have a good life.
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  Speaker 3: They want to love somebody, be loved by somebody, be
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: able to have a job and live life with dignity. Amen, Okay,
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  Speaker 3: And that's what the labor movement's all about.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: We just passed Labor Day, and I feel like the conversation.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: With labor goes away after Labor Day. So you guys,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: not this household.
• 8:24
  Speaker 3: So you should come to the Labor Day Parade, the
• 8:26
  Speaker 3: largest Labor Day parade in the United States. There'll be
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: tens of thousands of men and women in the labor
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: movement out there marching and celebrating labor and who we
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: are and what we do. We are the American workforce.
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: We are your neighbors, We're your littlely coaches, where your
• 8:47
  Speaker 3: people who work at the different churches or synagogues or mosque.
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: We are America. Okay, We're not the special interest group.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: We are the community and we are proud to be
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: ay Man.
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: Well, thanks so much, John, I know we all love
• 9:04
  Speaker 1: off topic, but this is a great conversation. Thanks for
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: joking me too much, Martinez. And that was really that
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: was That was great.