32 LONGISLANDPRESS.COM • JUNE 2021
BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL OF NASSAU & SUFFOLK
COUNTIES, AFL-CIO PRESIDENT MATTHEW ARACICH
REBUILDING LI’S ECONOMY
A third-generation heat-and-frost insulator
in the labor movement, Matthew
Aracich, who was elected president of
the Building and Construction Trades
Council of Nassau & Suffolk Counties,
AFL-CIO three years ago, was involved
in green energy before the term was
coined.
“We were actually called asbestos
workers,” he says. “Our whole goal
was to make sure that the energy
efficiency was at the optimum level
and on top of that, whenever you had
condensation, we would prevent mold
and mildew. These were all things
that we did prior to the introduction
of plastics.”
His family has been a part of the industry’s
changeover the past century.
And now, he is preparing his union’s
membership for changes that will help
shape the next century.
Who is it that your union represents?
I represent 65,000 hard-working skilled
tradesmen and tradeswomen throughout
Long Island. These are 36 different
affiliates, which means that these locals
are independent and have a vote on the
board. We represent the iron workers,
the carpenters, bricklayers, plumbers,
plasterers, steamfitters, masons, electricians,
operating engineers, teamsters,
and the like. The goal of the president is
to ensure that economic development is
key to what the job is, which means that
we are the liaison between labor, management,
development, and the county
or the towns or any municipality. We
are the advocates for labor. We want
to make sure that everything is a level
playing field.
How do you do that? Our strongest
advocacy is for safety. Do you know
how many people die in construction
in New York? One every five days. It’s
an astounding number. What if that
was a child? What if that was a judge?
What if that was a police officer or
teacher? Those are not typically
union people. They are predominantly
of Hispanic heritage and they are
throughout the state. The problem
here is employers actually use them
as a tool. They’re easily replaced.
If something happens, they’ll get
another. They leverage them against
all odds, which means that they’ll
attempt to either call Immigration
Matthew Aracich was elected president of his union three years ago.
and Customs Enforcement or say,
‘I’m going to deport you.’
What trends are you seeing? There
is a new focus on new energy. That’s
offshore energy, that’s solar, and even
the introduction of new technology
such as hydrogen fuels is something
that’s actually a blossoming industry.
We’re moving toward a green economy.
There’s a social justice component.
When people are displaced from work
due to changing of policies such as reduction
or elimination of fossil fuels,
they have to go somewhere. To create
a new opportunity, such as with the
offshore wind, the new opportunity
has to include men and women of color
and diverse communities and disadvantaged
communities.
How so? We get a bad rep for everything
from saying we’re too white or
not inclusive. And that’s nonsense.
You’ll see that our apprentice programs,
some of them are more than 72
percent minorities. The opportunity
is there for all.
How has membership changed
over the years? Long Island is actually
in a growth phase and one
of the reasons is because people
moved from the city and relocated
to Long Island. The industries and
the businesses, they're all starting
to flourish, which is a great thing.
What else would you like readers
to know? When it comes to wages, it's
difficult to live on Long Island without
a good job. We have been having — and
I hate to use these words — a brain
drain. In Nassau County, 47 percent or
so of those with a bachelor's degree or
higher are not working in their field or
not working at all. That's intolerable.
The opportunity that we have for us,
we’re at the beginning of opportunity
for everyone else. Build it and they
will come. That’s why we build the
infrastructure projects. Infrastructure
is one of the key components in
relocating businesses, franchises,
new technologies, and creating more
opportunities for homes.
-TB
“Build it and they will come.”
/LONGISLANDPRESS.COM
