Justin McCarty is President of the Springfield Central Labor Council and member of Local 178 Plumbers and Pipefitters.
“I came into the office in 2018 at the Plumbers and Pipefitters local,” McCarty says, “our total membership was 392 members. Now we're setting right at 500 or just a little bit over. More people are seeing the need to have a collective voice and work together. You know, a rising tide raises all ships, and I think people are starting to see that.”
McCarty says there are about 22 active unions in the Springfield area, with about 7,000 members. He says the local Plumbers and Pipefitters union has more people trying to join its apprentice program than they have jobs for.
While much has been made of a perceived shortage of skilled trades workers, he says apprentice programs like theirs, operated by unions, are actively developing our local workforce.
“Local 178 spends a little over $300,000 a year training apprentices, and it's the membership and the contractors that invest in that. There's no state dollars. There's no federal dollars. It's all privately funded training for these apprentices.”
He also says local unions are involved in charity work and more in their communities. While he hears misgivings and presumptions about unions, he says many people lose sight of just how local unions are and the opportunities members have to steer their local.
"It's the memberships’ organization, and they should be there consistently to help guide that organization.”
McCarty says organized workers are still busy building the city, educating our kids and transporting our goods, even if the public perception of unions has changed significantly in the last century.
"There's union members here,” McCarty says, “just I think part of the problem is nobody talks about it anymore.”