For John Murphy, fourth-generation New York City union plumber, the Labor Day Parade up Fifth Avenue has been an annual tradition since he became a union apprentice in 1984. But unlike his union forbearers, Murphy is the first to get involved in union politics and carry the honor of being parade grand marshall.
“Maybe I would say, the first one crazy enough to get involved in union politics,” Murphy said about his path. “I just felt that our members deserve representatives that can work hard on their behalf and that can understand the issues.”
Murphy, who serves as the international representative of the United Association, said that he carries the title at this year’s parade on behalf of the members.
“Not for me, but to represent my organization, to understand that the organization gets the recognition it deserves. It’s the men and women from our local unions that get to celebrate that day with me. And it just makes me extremely proud,” Murphy told LaborPress.
In 1996 Murphy made the jump from plumber into a role as recording secretary and has since been elected as a business agent, financial secretary-treasurer and business manager, before taking his role in the international, which involves representing 13 UA local unions in New York with more than 24,000 members.
As the business manager of Local One in New York City, housing has always been a leading issue. In New York, UA represents the plumbers, steamfitters and sprinkler fitters — each of which has an integral role in setting the foundation for both commercial and residential construction. The plumbers do all types of residential plumbing, the steamfitters lay down what is essentially the arteries of the building — heating, cooling and fire protection.
“So we have a footprint on just about every aspect of construction in New York City,” Murphy said. The workforce includes affordable housing, but also the private housing market where “many developers seem to have lost their moral compass.”
In his capacity as grand marshall, Murphy urged his members to understand the legacy of those that came before them and risked so much that worked so hard to get, to gain the, the conditions that we enjoy today,
“We can never assume that it’s taken for granted. You can’t assume that it’s always gonna be there,” he said.
One legislative issue that Murphy said he’s drawn attention in his role as International representative, is the rollout of the CLCPA, an ambitious climate plan that the state passed in 2019 that calls for New York to drastically reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. Murphy said the legislation has posed “a big challenge” to his members by putting billions of dollars in subsidies towards renewable-only energy sources.
“We are being tasked with trying to transform that grid in another 16 years. And there has to be a transition plan for the very workers that have built up these energy facilities for the last one hundred years,” Murphy said.
In building off of American public support for unions, which has surged in recent years to generational highs, Murphy said that he encourages unrepresented workers to come out for the Labor Day parade “to see that it’s big, it’s bigger than all of us, that it’s important. And that’s what a union is, a group of people that work together for a common interest on behalf of all of its members and their families.”
When he marches in the parade next weekend, Murphy said that he’lll be doing so in the steps of George Meany, an architect of the modern AFL-CIO and union plumber in a local that evolved in Plumbers Local 1.
“One of [Meany’s] quotes that I often use is ‘The basic goal of organized labor will not change. It’s to better the standard of life for all who work for wages and seek decency, justice and dignity for all Americans.’ And that holds true today,” Murphy said.
