UA's Murphy beats the labor drum, loudly and proudly

Forty years ago, John J. Murphy joined the family trade. 

Initiated into membership of what was then Local 2 of the United Association, Murphy was following a path trod by his great-grandfather, traveled by his grandfather and, eventually, his own dad: He was an apprentice union plumber. 

He would work jobs in Battery Park City when the district was being filled out in the 1990s, installing underground piping and also working above ground, fitting water supply lines on new construction. Murphy took to the trade quickly, eventually learning to lay out sleeves for piping.   

He then went to work for the tech conglomerate Siemens, doing temperature control work. A few years later, he took a city civil service test and became a thermostat repairer, working at City College. 

But aside from the trades’ technical aspects, he also had other interests — and aptitudes. “I'm the only one in my family that had an interest in entering union politics. Maybe I could say ‘crazy enough,’” he said during an interview last week. 

“I just felt the urge to try to negotiate better, to raise the standard for the plumbers that I worked with. And that's how I became engaged,” he said. 

In 1996, at the age of 32, he was elected the local’s recording secretary, the first of the several union positions he has held since then: business agent, financial secretary-treasurer and business manager. 

In 2016, he was unanimously elected the UA's international representative for the Northeast region.  Reelected to the post in in 2021, he leads 24,000 members of the UA — formally, the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada — among them plumbers, steamfitters, pipefitters, sprinkler fitters, welders and technicians throughout the construction industry. 

On Saturday, in suit and sash across this broad shoulders, Murphy will lead the  nation’s oldest and largest Labor Day parade up Fifth Avenue as its grand marshal.

“As a fourth-generation union plumber from the city of New York, I really am thrilled to be able to represent not only my organization, but all workers, all workers in the labor movement on that day,” he said. “Because the tent is so much broader than one local union or one building council. It's all workers. And that's what I think I'm most excited about.”

The theme of this year’s parade, “All Workers, Many Voices, One Fight,” rings familiar Labor Day notes. It also sounds with Murphy, who believes that people with organized labor are in a fight for their livelihoods, even if, he said, support for unions is at the highest it’s been for decades.

He suggested that support reflected several things, among them the tightening labor market, the expanding wage gap and, within some sectors and demographics, increased exploitation.  But workers, he said, all want and deserve “something more, something better, for themselves and their families,” regardless of whether they belong to unions. 

Murphy said that among the greatest obstacles to better livelihoods for laborers are “unscrupulous builders” of both residential and commercial construction whose chief aim is to build and flip. “So it's all about profit,” he said, with the surest way to a high return being inexpensive labor, of which, unfortunately, there is plenty, in New York City and nationwide. 

That’s one reason, Murphy said, the UA has ramped its organizing teams nationwide, “because we see that exploitation.” The union is organizing new members at the rate of 1,000 a month, he said.

But it’s equally important to work and collaborate with contractors, so-called “top-down organizing,” even if that is the more challenging organizational strategy. “But this is what it takes. And once they realize the essence of fairness, how we're not looking to drive employers out of business. We want to try to raise the level for everybody, level the playing field across the board.”

Just as importantly, and particularly this year, with the nation about to vote in a presidential election that could have significant bearing on organized labor, Murphy said, is to get current members to “focus on the issues” rather than get caught up in sound bites often devised to confuse and even deceive. 

“It's exhausting, and often it drives our members to vote against their own economic well-being without even realizing the damage that can be done,” he said. 

Murphy noted that the Presidential Transition Project — better known as Project 2025 — compiled by the conservative, Trump-supporting Heritage Foundation, would significantly compromise the civil-service sector. It also advocates for the elimination of prevailing wage requirements and for modifications in overtime regulations to give employers more latitude on pay. 

“As a labor organization, it's incumbent upon us to be able to say, hey, ‘here's the facts.’ These are the issues. This is how these legislators have voted. Now, you can make your decision. And today the choice is just crystal clear,” Murphy said. 

Murphy, 61, said he is often reminded of the longtime House of Representatives speaker, Tip O’Neill, who remarked on blue-collar workers’ long love affair with President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s.  Reagan, of course, fired thousands of unionized air traffic controllers who staged an illegal strike in 1981, the year he assumed office, decimating the union that had endorsed him rather than Democratic incumbent Jimmy Carter. “We're faced with that same challenge today for people who love a candidate,” he said. 

But on Saturday morning, following Mass at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, among the floats, construction equipment, union banners and placards, U.S. flags and red, white and blue bunting, politics will take a back seat during a celebration of organized labor and its successes. 

Murphy, who four decades ago joined up with a plumber’s local to make a difference, has had a hand in a few of those. “This has been one of the most challenging yet rewarding careers that I could ask for, because it really felt right,” he said. 

And that’s in no small part because he’s helped usher in positive changes for thousands of union members, including, now, his son, who recently graduated from Local 1’s apprenticeship program and is working as a plumber’s helper with the New York City Housing Authority, carrying on a union-strong tradition.

“When we can secure a better contract, when we can get them a decent raise, when we can make their pension even stronger, at the end of the day, we're protecting a lot of families,” Murphy said. “And that's all we can work for. That's all we can ask for.” 

richardk@thechiefleader.com

We depend on the support of readers like you to help keep our publication strong and independent. Join us.