The Labor Tribune

Historic first Black construction trades business manager in St. Louis area By SHERI GASSAWAY Correspondent In 1978, Ronny Griffin was offered a summer job in construction at Fred Weber as a union laborer with Laborers Local 110. Little did he know then that he would be leading the 3,000-member union 43 year later. Griffin, who currently serves as president of the union, will...

Resolution of support urges Board of Aldermen to act quickly for implementation By ED FINKELSTEIN Publisher St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones outlined an aggressive plan to the St. Louis Labor Council’s Executive Board Monday to enhance the lives and jobs of residents in the city’s spending of the first $190 million to be received shortly from the new federal American Rescue...

By SHERI GASSAWAY Correspondent St. Louis – A Sheet Metal Workers Local 36 picket at a student housing complex under construction at 3765 Lindell Blvd. led to all the building trades workers at the site walking off the job May 27. Local 36 set up the job action after Brinkmann, the project’s general contractor, hired 7400 Construction, a non-union, out-of-town contractor that...

By SHERI GASSAWAY Correspondent St. Louis – The Building Union Diversity (BUD) program celebrated the graduation of its 21st class here June 3 while announcing plans by the Missouri AFL-CIO to replicate the highly successful pre-apprenticeship training model in other areas of the state. The BUD program, which boasts a 92 percent graduation rate, began in 2014 as a recruitment tool to...

Florissant, MO – Union members, family, friends and political leaders gathered June 7 for the Dick Kellett Memorial Picnic, formerly the North County Labor Club’s annual picnic, to remember and honor Kellett, the Club’s longtime president, and former business agent for Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 562, who passed away in February 2020 at the age of 85. The annual club...

Mishelle Wallace second St. Louis-area tradeswoman to receive the national award By SHERI GASSAWAY Correspondent Mishelle Wallace, a 12-year member of Iron Workers Local 392, has been recognized with a North America’s Building Trades Unions (NABTU) Tradeswoman Hero Award. Wallace, 54, is the second St. Louis metro area tradeswoman to be honored in the program, which began last October. Emily Gilreath, a third-year...

PINE LAWN, MO – Tina Cramer (second from left) and Sonja Gholston-Byrd (third from left), both of the St. Louis Chapter of the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW), delivered a brand new, high capacity, top-of-the-line washer and dryer to a 100-year-old home here June 7 that will be used to provide transitional housing for women. Thanks to the...

Tickets on sale now for 2021 St. Jude Dream Home giveaway Dardenne Prairie, MO – The Electrical Connection is again donating resources to build a very special home to help support kids served by the renowned St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and with work progressing. Tickets for a chance to win the home are now available. A partnership of the International...

WASHINGTON, MO – Glaziers Local 513 is bannering the Bank of Franklin County for using non-union Franklin County Glass. Delivering the message is Local 513 member Colin Clancy. Local 513 is asking union members and their families to contact bank president Robert Dobsch at 636-239-6600 to let him know they won’t be doing business with his bank until it...

A Missouri judge said the state unconstitutionally used a 2018 law (SB 1007) to ignore union-negotiated protections for public employees and make unions “impotent.” Cole County Presiding Judge Jon Beetem ruled state departments wrongly cited the law to negate union-negotiated protections against unfair firings and discipline. The law, proposed by Republican Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe during his time as a state...