[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 15]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 20162-20163]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




IN CELEBRATION OF THE 95TH ANNIVERSARY OF ASBESTOS WORKERS' UNION LOCAL 
                                 NO. 3

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Tuesday, September 13, 2005

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I call our colleagues' attention to 
Asbestos Workers' Union Local No. 3 from Cleveland, which is 
celebrating its 95th anniversary on September 24, 2005. Members of 
Local No. 3 can trace the beginnings of their union back to the 
earliest day of the modern industrial era with the sudden expansion of 
steam power around 1880, creating the need for the insulation industry.
  An attempt to form a national bond between insulators came in 1900, 
when the Salamander Association of New York sent out an appeal to 
related crafts in other cities to form a ``National Organization of 
Pipe and Boiler Covers.'' This appeal struck a chord of solidarity and 
two years later the officers and members of the Pipe Covers Union 
affiliated with the National Building Trades Council of America and 
invited other pipe coverer unions and related trades to join them. The 
appeal for unity was sent to Cleveland, as well as other targeted 
cities such as New York, Chicago, Boston, Detroit, and Washington, DC. 
In all, seven local unions from around the country responded and this 
resulted in the birth of the foundation for an international union. The 
interested locals met for their first convention on July 7, 1902, where 
they drafted and approved a constitution and elected Thomas Kennedy of 
Chicago as their first president. They chose ``The National Association 
of Heat, Frost and General Insulators and Asbestos Workers of America'' 
as the name for the international union and on September 22nd of that 
year the American Federation of Labor issued an official charter 
designating the asbestos workers as a national union.
  The group met again in October 1904 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to 
adopt a constitution and issue local numbers: St. Louis, Missouri No. 
1, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania No. 2, Cleveland, Ohio No. 3, Buffalo, New 
York No. 4, Chicago, Illinois No. 5, Boston, Massachusetts No. 6, and 
Seattle, Washington No. 7. The charter issued to Local No. 3 in 1910 
contained the names of these Clevelanders: Thomas Richards, James 
Wiley, Phil Frigge, M.O. Taitle, Harry Jacoby, Archie Budd, Harry 
Morris, Harry Graff, and George Davis. James Dalton, Al Dalton, and 
Thomas O'Neil of Local No. 3 became officers of the International 
Association.
  Over the years Local No. 3 has fought for better wages, safer working 
conditions on construction sites, and benefits. Local No. 3 has 
established funds to help with medical expenses, retirement, 
apprenticeship and training. At its 95th anniversary and going into its 
second century, Local No. 3's goals remain to make a member's life 
safer, more productive, and more prosperous, to work to meet the needs 
of its members, and to educate new members that there is strength and 
prosperity in solidarity. Mr. Speaker, please join me in congratulating 
Asbestos Workers' Union Local No. 3 as its officers and members 
celebrate their 95th anniversary.

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