Convention Notebook: A New Idea That’s Not Really New
Ed Sullivan knows a thing or two about bringing about change. As a member of elevator constructors Local 4 in Boston some years back, Sullivan and his fellow craftsmen thought they had fresh ideas to make the International Union of Elevator Constructors more responsive, more democratic and more efficient with the members hard-earned dues.
On Aug. 9, as Sullivan opened the AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Dept.s 67th convention as department president, he told the 206 trades delegates, I joined together with a handful of determined elevator constructors .and together we spent years on our own time and with our own money trying to get support for our new ideas. Although we achieved some of our goals at the IUEC convention, we fell short of electing the leadership team we wanted. He remembers: We were disappointed, but not deterred. We didnt walk away because we didnt get our way.