News and Information about the Eastern Massachusetts Plumbing Industry • February 2018 www.massplumbers.com
New England's tallest residential tower takes shape
“Every worker takes pride that they are working on one of Boston’s largest and most prestigious buildings.”
“PIPE IS MY LIFE,” SAYS BOB JONES, LOCAL 12 MEMBER AND GENERAL FOREMAN FOR GBPCA CONTRACTOR E.M. DUGGAN. IT’S A GOOD THING. BECAUSE THE 39-YEAR
- Bob Jones of E.M. Duggan Cover
COMPANY VETERAN IS OVERSEEING A CREW
161,000 FEET OF PLUMBING PIPE AT ONE DALTON. THAT IS INSTALLING
“I loved plumbing from the start.” - Hugh Kelleher Cover
“Frank Amato is a true believer.” - Harry Brett of Local 12 Page 3
Hugh Kelleher’s Harvardto-plumbing pipeline As we regularly chronicle in this newsletter, the men and women who enter Local 12’s training center come from all walks of life and often have interesting tales to tell about what led them into the plumbing trade. One of the most curious and fascinating stories belongs to Hugh Kelleher.
Greater Boston Plumbing Contractors Association 978-777-8764 www.GreaterBostonPCA.com
Plumbers and Gasfitters Boston Local 12 617-288-6200 www.PlumbersAndGasfittersLocal12.org
After 34 years in the industry, the last 20 of which he has served as the executive director of the Greater Boston Plumbing Contractors Association (previously known as the PHCC of Greater Boston), Kelleher retired at the end of 2017. The Pipeline sat down with him to learn how and why he chose to become a plumber in his early 30s, to find out what he was doing before then, and to ask him to reflect on his journey.
That’s over 30 miles of pipe winding its way through the tower now under construction in Boston’s Back Bay. When it is completed, the 61story, 742-foot building will be the third tallest in Boston, just a few feet behind the Prudential Center. The Four Seasons hotel and private residences project will be high-profile and high-end in every sense of the phrases. Perhaps the most unique aspect of the job is the extremely small footprint on which the enormous building is being constructed. While One Dalton will be quite tall, the postage-stamp sized lot means that each floor will be relatively small. The compact, slender building will resemble the “pencil towers” more typically found in New York City.
Kelleher’s entrée into the industry almost sounds like a scene from a situation comedy. In 1983, he walked in, unannounced, to Local 12’s office, and approached Joseph K. Walsh, then the union’s VP and
Because there is virtually no room to offload deliveries, the project poses logistical challenges and requires creative workarounds. General contractor Suffolk Construction has a superintendent in charge of deliveries whose only job is to keep a steady stream of materials flowing for the project while preventing traffic chaos on the busy streets that surround the site.
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Daniel Bent takes reins as GBPCA president “WHEN YOU TELL ME TO WALK, I RUN,” says Dan Bent, executive vice president of American Plumbing and Heating in Norwell, explaining the self-motivation that has driven him throughout his career. He began running at the age of 12 when he landed his first job and never looked back. But he took a roundabout path into the plumbing industry and navigated a detour that ultimately led him into a management position with one of Greater Boston’s largest and most successful mechanical contractors. It is a journey that most recently landed him in the president’s chair at the Greater Boston Plumbing Contractors Association.
In the pre-computer days, estimators had to use calculators and generate spreadsheets by hand. Bent says that he quickly got up to speed in his new assignment. Although he didn’t know how to read drawings at first, he learned the skills. The shop’s owners, Steve Fallon and the late Fran Williams, promoted Bent to project manager. Suddenly, the foremen who had supervised him in the field were now working for Bent. It wasn’t an issue, he says, because they had mutual respect. Bent says that both Fallon and Williams were incredible men, and that he is grateful for the opportunities that the owners gave him.
In 1989, Bent went to work for Although his dad worked in the American as an estimator and industry, Bent was not interested project manager. At the time, it in plumbing when he was was a small company operating younger. In 1982, his father was out of a Quincy storefront. There working for Fallon Williams and were about a dozen people worklearned about a job opening. Taking in the field, and four in the ofing his dad’s advice, Bent applied fice. Forming a team with founder for the position and went to work and president, Joe Clancy, the two for the contractor not as a have taken an plumber, but old-school, We do the hard as a truck hands-on apdriver. work. We’ve proach to A year later, never been build Amerihe decided to can into a afraid of the pursue plumbmajor player. ing and enjobs others say Today, the tered the company has can’t be done. apprentice 32 office staff program at and about 250 in the field. Local 12. Bent says that he enjoyed the trade from the start and that his first job was at Bird Island Flats at the end of Logan Airport runway working for Fallon Williams under Al Tector. “On the first day, Al told me, ‘Every third step, you had better skip.’ I took it to heart.” Towards the end of Bent’s third year in the apprentice program, fate intervened when one of the contractor’s estimators broke his foot. “They asked me to come into the front office for a temporary two-week assignment to cover for him,” he says. “I went in, and I never left.”
The key to American’s growth and success? “We do the hard work,” Bent says. “We’ve never been afraid of the jobs others say can’t be done.” As an example from American’s early days, he points to three dormitories at Wellesley College that the company completed between semesters during an eight-week “summer slammer.” To tackle the faster-thanfast-track schedule, Bent and his team looked at the project as three separate jobs and broke the work down into its component parts.
Dan Bent
American used the same analytical strategy when it worked on Novartis’ first bio-medical research building in Cambridge. They took what typically would have been an 18-month-long project and, per the owner’s request, condensed it into an ultrafast 6-month schedule. Part of the game plan included using two shifts. Niche projects such as Novartis have become a hallmark of American. “We started working with biotech companies in 1993 when people didn’t even know what they were,” Bent says. “Biotech jobs are really what’s built this company.” Bent brings his can-do spirit and work ethos to his position as president of the Greater Boston Plumbing Contractors Association. He says that he’s fortunate to have come on during a booming economy and an extraordinarily busy time for the region’s construction industry. He adds that the organization’s longtime executive director, Hugh Kelleher, who recently retired, has done a tremendous job and will be missed. The two met each
other years ago when they were classmates in the apprentice program. Bent is looking forward to working with Jeremy Ryan, the GBPCA’s new director. Another classmate who graduated with Bent from the apprentice program is Local 12 Business Agent Tim Fandel. The two now serve together on joint labormanagement committees. Bent has high praise for Fandel, the local, and for Business Manager Harry Brett and says that under Brett’s leadership, the contractors and union enjoy a good working relationship. The GBPCA president also acknowledges Brett’s predecessor, Kevin Cotter, and notes that the retired business manager was his outside super when the two worked together at Fallon Williams. Bent is excited about his role heading the GBPCA’s executive board and hopes to accomplish much during his tenure. Or, to put it in terms that better match his persona, he hopes to have a good run. PAGE 2
Needed workforce housing on the way IT’S A SIMPLE CASE OF SUPPLY AND DEMAND. There is considerable and growing demand for housing in the Boston area. With a tight supply, however, rents have soared, um, through the roof. In case there was any doubt that the region’s housing costs are among the nation’s highest, consider the eye-popping $40 million price tag for one of the condos being built at One Dalton, the high-rise project profiled elsewhere in this issue. There may be plenty of potential buyers ready to scoop up the luxury units at the new tower. But what about middle-class folks—people who earn too much to qualify for low-income housing, but often have difficulty finding market-rate rents available in their price range? 6,000 of them recently applied for about 200 workforce-housing apartments that will be offered at The Beverly, a new mixed-use building slated to open in 2018 near North Station. The impressive number of applicants indicates the incredible demand—and need—for apartments targeted to middle-income
wage earners. Despite the urgency, The Beverly marks Boston’s first major workforce housing development in 25 years. Rents will range from $1,940 a month for a studio up to $4,331 for a three-bedroom unit and will be determined by household income and family size. The rates are not bargainpriced, but they are lower than what comparable units command in the city. “For young professionals seeking housing, the rents are realistic and sustainable,” says Harry Brett, business manager at Local 12. The 14-story building will include 239 mixed-income apartments, 48 of which will be targeted to low-income renters and the balance reflecting moderate-income rates. It will also include a 220-room Courtyard by Marriott hotel and street-level retail. Related Beal is developing the project, and Consigli Construction is the GC. E.M. Duggan is the plumbing contractor. Located on Beverly Street near the Zakim Bridge, the project is one of many under development in the area. “It sits above the expressway,” says Tim Fandel, Local 12 business agent, who notes that
construction of the building posed some unique challenges. “It is actually built on top of a tunnel. When they were preparing the foundation, they had to be careful and precise.” Brett applauds the project and says that Local 12 recognizes the need for reasonably priced housing and is doing its part to support its development. “Since Marty Walsh became mayor, and I became business manager, I’ve tried to run a parallel course to come up with ways to help make construction costs more affordable.” For one, the union established a new residential division and negotiated a lower rate for the specialized work. The division works on new construction of mid-rise, wood-frame apartment buildings throughout the region. Because The Beverly includes a hotel and shops and is taller than the building height specified in the agreement, it is not part of the residential division. “The fact that the city could establish workforce housing is a real testament to the mayor,” Brett says. “We hope there will be more. It’s greatly needed.”
Frank Amato
Frank Amato’s journey to Local 12 Frank Amato never thought he’d join Local 12, much less be its organizer. That’s because, like far too many people, he had plenty of misconceptions about unions. Now it’s his job to help dispel the myths that often cloud plumbers’ perceptions and show them the many benefits that await them as members of the local. Local 12 hired Amato a few months ago as a business development and recruitment organizer. He joins Dave Barbati, director of the department. While Amato’s journey to Local 12 was anything but certain, his path to the construction trades was on firmer footing. His grandfather was a mason. His dad didn’t work construction, but he was exceptionally handy. Amato remembers his father repairing cars, building furniture, and fixing things around the house. One of five children, all of Amato’s brothers and sisters went to vocational school. His oldest brother is an electrician, and his next oldest brother is a plumber. He was going to be a carpenter but, following in his brother’s footsteps, ended up studying plumbing at the town’s voc tech. Although Amato’s father worked for the MBTA and was a union member, there wasn’t much discussion about organized labor in their house. It was at the Continued on page 8
The Beverly, a mixed-use building with workforce housing, is under construction near North Station in Boston.
PAGE 3
One Dalton skyscraper to tower above Back Bay Continued from page 1 “Everything has to be coordinated to arrive at the scheduled delivery time and go from the truck to the hoist to the floor,” says Brian Pfingston, Duggan’s plumbing labor superintendent. “Everybody needs to be efficient.”
Lean construction for a lean building Efficiency would seem to be the mantra for the One Dalton project. Suffolk is leveraging the latest technology and scheduling
management system to help keep its aggressive schedule on track. For example, large monitors greet workers arriving at the site and display info about what is happening that day. Also, Duggan (along with the other 31 construction trades working on the project) schedules where and when its employees will be and what they will be doing weeks in advance using sophisticated software provided by Suffolk. “Lean construction has been a buzzword for a few years,” says Kevin Walsh, Duggan’s senior vice president, plumbing. “It’s more than a buzzword here. It’s embraced. This is gospel.”
E.M. Duggan Senior Vice President Kevin Walsh at the One Dalton job site.
Everybody on the massive project knows what he is supposed to be doing and what everyone else is supposed to be doing at any given time. It helps keep the entire construction
One Dalton project innovations • The mechanical room will occupy the 25th floor, between the hotel and the condos. Since much of the mechanical equipment wouldn’t fit in the hoist, it will instead be lifted in place using a tower crane as soon as the 25th floor is poured and before the 26th floor is poured.
• While it has used them minimally on previous jobs, Duggan is making extensive use of sleeves for One Dalton. Since the thermal sleeves eliminate the need to go back and fire-safe the pipes, they save time and money.
process transparent and helps keep the job humming along. When The Pipeline visited the job site, Jones opened the scheduling program on his desktop computer and showed the gridlike interface that he and his colleagues use to plan and manage the project. At a glance, he can easily see the building’s floors represented onscreen and the crews assigned to those floors. Each trade has its own unique color code to visually differentiate them. The schedule is divided by each day of the workweek. With simple keystrokes, Jones can manipulate the data so that he can examine it across a variety of variables. He zooms out to display multiple floors and the work schedule for those floors over the following few weeks. It shows a logical, sequential pattern and flow for the Duggan employees as they systematically follow other trades and perform installations. “That’s what we want to see. If there were random dots, that would be mass confusion,” Walsh notes. “We’d be losing money.” The success of the process can’t all be attributed to software, however. “The pace of the job is a testament to the quality of the foreman and the crew we have,” says Harry Brett, Local 12’s business manager. “It’s the front-line people who really make schedules work.”
Bob Jones, E.M. Duggan’s general foreman for the One Dalton project.
Prefab complements the lean formula Another way that Duggan keeps the project flowing smoothly is by extensively using prefabrication. A pioneer in the concept, it’s something that the contractor has been doing for years. But prefabrication is particularly apt for One Dalton with its tight footprint and laser focus on lean construction. There are about 17 plumbers on site now. Jones expects that the number may top out in the mid20s at the project’s height of activity. But the numbers are deceiving. That’s because there is a large crew back at Duggan’s huge prefab facility in Canton supporting the job-site plumbers. In the controlled environment, the crew has access to machinery that would be impractical to use on site. The Canton employees Continued next page
• Duggan is breaking down the work on each floor into a pre-stud phase and a post-stud phase. Bob Jones, the job’s general foreman, says that it’s more efficient to get as much work done as possible when the floor is wide open. After the studs go up, the crew installs the fixtures and some of the piping that goes in the walls.
• The crew is relying heavily on the Trimble, especially for hanger inserts. Since the building is rounded, and everything is on an arc, there isn’t anything against which to measure. Jones says that his team is using the Trimble to locate virtually every point.
• Instead of soldering pipe, the Duggan crew is mostly using the ProPress system. While the process is fairly new in New England, the European product has been in use for many years in other markets. According to Jones, ProPress is quicker, cleaner, and safer than soldering, and it saves labor. It also eliminates the need for a dedicated fire watch.
Much of the work for the One Dalton project is done at E.M. Duggan’s pre-fab facility in Canton. PAGE 4
measure, cut, assemble, and prep about 75% of One Dalton’s pipe and systems.
It will be Boston’s second Four Seasons luxury hotel (a rare distinction that demonstrates the city’s pent-up hotel demand and Everything is labeled by locaworld-class status). The luxury tion and placed in wheeled carts condos, which are being marthat are delivered directly to the keted as The Four Seasons Priapplicable floor. It is the very defvate Residences, will occupy inition of lean construction. floors 26 to 61. They will be There are almost no extra matericompleted in phases, further als at the site, and Duggan complicating doesn’t dethe construcliver anything Lean construction tion process to the site and access is more than a until the time throughout it is needed. buzzword here. the building as “I don’t It's embraced. well as at want to miniground level. This is gospel. mize what we To give a are doing on sense of just how posh the resisite here,” Jones says. “But, we dences will be, the penthouse are assembling piece one to unit has a $40 million asking piece two to piece three. It’s all price. That would make it the laid out.” city’s most expensive condo. DeThe hotel will open spite the high costs, it is exbefore the tower pected that all of the units will is completed be sold well before the building When The Pipeline toured One is finished. Dalton in October 2017, about “Every worker here takes half of the tower’s floors had pride that they are working on been built. The job is scheduled one of the largest and most to be finished in spring 2019. But prestigious buildings ever to be the 215-room hotel, which will constructed in Boston,” Jones occupy the first 24 floors, is supsays about One Dalton. The posed to open before then. That project will literally change the will restrict access for construccity’s skyline. tion workers at the ground level and make an already challenging “This is a marquee, showcase work site that much more tricky. job,” adds Walsh.
Pre-fab assemblies at One Dalton are labeled, placed in wheeled carts, and brought directly to the applicable floor when they are needed.
Jeremy Ryan
GBPCA welcomes new director Even before he arrived to assume his new leadership position as the incoming executive director for the Greater Boston Plumbing and Contractors Association, Jeremy Ryan knew that one of his top priorities would be to preserve and nurture the positive working relationship that the contractors’ group has with Plumbers Local 12. That’s because while he was living in New York, a Boston-based colleague told him about the harmonious labor-management rapport between the organizations. For the past few years, he has worked with the National Electrical Contractors Association. After earning his degree in public policy and studying non-profit administration at the University of Delaware, Ryan participated in a management training program at NECA’s national office. Subsequently, he took a position with NECA’s Cleveland chapter and worked with its three affiliated Electrical Workers locals. Among his responsibilities, Ryan was involved with the joint apprenticeship and labor-management committees as well as the health and welfare funds and programs. “Before I worked with NECA, I didn’t really know all that much about unions or trade associations,” he says. But Ryan learned on the job and quickly grew to appreciate the work that they do and the interdependent roles that they play.
He then moved to New York City to work with NECA’s chapter there. Ryan says Electrical Workers Local 3, based in the city, impressed him. “They really embody the union philosophy,” he notes pointing to, among other initiatives, the scholarship and housing programs the local runs. Since coming on board, he says that the GBPCA’s board and the plumbing contractors he has met have impressed him. “They are all classy individuals, and they are fair, pragmatic, intelligent, and a great group to work for and with.” Ryan has praise for everyone at Local 12 also, noting that they are “highly regarded and passionate, knowledgeable, innovative about what they do.” Ryan will take over GBPCA’s executive director role in late 2017 when Hugh Kelleher, who has held the position since 1998, retires. He credits Kelleher with doing an outstanding job leading the organization and figures that he’ll never be able to fill his shoes. “I’ll just have to go down a parallel path.” He’s been enjoying living in and getting to know Boston and the surrounding area. With all of the construction going on, Ryan says it’s an exciting time to be here and working in the industry. PAGE 5
Hugh Kelleher looks back at 34 years in the industry Continued from page 1 Secretary (and the father of Kevin Walsh, the senior VP of plumbing at GBPCA contractor, E.M. Duggan). As Kelleher recalls, Walsh was at the copy machine and was only half listening to him at first. The scene unfolded something like this: HUGH KELLEHER: Excuse me. I want to join the union.
WALSH, showing a bit more interest: You’re a speechwriter? Where? KELLEHER: In Washington, D.C. WALSH, becoming even more interested: Washington, D.C.? Who do you write for? KELLEHER: For Jim Shannon, the congressman.
KELLEHER: No.
WALSH, putting down the lid of the copy machine and now fully engaged in the conversation: Shannon? He’s a good friend of unions!
WALSH: Are you an apprentice plumber?
KELLEHER: I know. I write his speeches.
KELLEHER: No.
WALSH: Did you go to college?
JOE WALSH: Are you a plumber?
WALSH: Is anyone from your family in Local 12? KELLEHER: No. WALSH: Do you know anyone from Local 12? KELLEHER: No. WALSH: Have you ever done any plumbing? KELLEHER: No. WALSH: Kid, I’m sorry. I don’t think I can help you. Disappointed, Kelleher stood there for a moment. Perhaps feeling badly for him, Walsh continued to speak, almost as an afterthought. WALSH: What are you doing now? KELLEHER: I’m a speechwriter.
KELLEHER: Yes, I went to Harvard. WALSH, now yelling: Harvard? Hey Dave, come over here!
Hugh Kelleher
gram and began his plumbing career. “I loved it from the start,” Kelleher says. Although it had taken awhile, he found his calling. Newspapers figure into the early years
Dave McGinness, who was managing the Local’s funds and pension program, came into the room.
Most plumbers haven’t attended an Ivy League college. Then again, Kelleher didn’t take a conventional path to Harvard.
WALSH: Dave, meet this kid. In 10 years, he’s going to have your job!
The son of a police officer and the oldest of eight boys, he grew up in Haverhill. To help contribute to the family, the Kelleher brothers cobbled together the biggest paper route in the city and made deliveries before and after school. After years of hard work, Hugh was named the Newsboy of the Year.
Cue the laugh track. Having caught Walsh’s attention with his unusual qualifications, the Local 12 VP sent Kelleher to Jack Fandel, who was the head of the union’s training center. The Harvard-educated speechwriter enrolled in the apprentice pro-
A van helps promote the Plumbers 911 residential service program that Local 12 and the GBPCA jointly run.
The paper route manager told the family about the Boston Herald’s newsboy scholarship program for prep schools, which Kelleher applied for and won. He was admitted to Phillips Academy Andover. “I went there for four years as a boarding student,” Kelleher says, “and my parents paid a total of $125. Phillips was only 10 miles away from Haverhill, but it was like a world apart. It made me hungry to learn and to succeed.” Kelleher served as president of his class, and in his senior year he was elected school president. Success at Phillips led Kelleher to Harvard University where he
graduated with high honors, with a degree in literature and philosophy. Among the classmates he befriended were Benazir Bhutto, who became the prime minister of Pakistan, and E.J. Dionne, who is now an opinion writer for The Washington Post and a prominent political commentator. Politics beckoned While at Harvard, he ran for and was elected to Haverhill’s school board. His buddy, Dionne, helped with the campaign. Kelleher could not afford a car, and remembers taking a bus from Cambridge to Haverhill for school board meetings. Since the buses wouldn’t be running when the night meetings ended, Kelleher would hitchhike back to Cambridge. (Hitching a ride, it should be noted, was more common back in the 1970s.) He had a variety of jobs after graduation, including teaching, grant writing, and serving as an administrator at the Harvard School of Public Health and at Boston University. During a stint in Europe, Kelleher began writing a novel. But he returned to the political world in the late 1970s by working as an aide to Harvard friend Larry DiCara, who was the president of the Continued next page PAGE 6
Boston City Council. Kelleher then took it to the next level by moving to Washington and becoming Shannon’s press secretary and speechwriter. On his first day in the Capitol, Shannon gave him 20 minutes notice to write a policy speech. It generated a lot of attention and ended up in the national news. While Kelleher greatly admired Shannon and enjoyed working for him, he became disillusioned with D.C. and decided he wanted to move in a different direction. He got pumped about plumbing Before he moved to Washington, Kelleher had purchased a tripledecker in Dorchester as an investment. He had no training or skills, but found that he liked doing minor carpentry work on the property. Facing a career crisis, he thought about pursuing construction and perhaps opening his own business. On nights and weekends Kelleher began going to the Library of Congress to research different trades. He zeroed in on plumbing. Kelleher recalls thumbing through plumbing magazines and thinking, “Wow, those pumps look really interesting!” His career path may seem odd, but Kelleher had learned to trust his instincts. “Most of my life has been just following my own nose,” he says. “I got very excited about plumbing and thought it could be a wonderful trade. And it is.” When Kelleher told Shannon about his plans, the congressman thought he was totally nuts and told his departing speechwriter that if he was a plumber in three years, he would eat his hat. “Jim and I have remained very good friends,” Kelleher says. “I haven’t asked him to eat his hat.” Asking the plumber who had done work on his Dorchester house for advice about getting into the business, he recommended that Kelleher consider joining the union. He knew that unions took good care of their members. During his Library of
In this 2008 photo, Kelleher is flanked by Dan Bent and Joe Clancy of American Plumbing to the left and Harry Brett of Local 12 to the right along with other Local 12 officials and plumbers that worked on the renovation of Fenway Park.
Congress reading, Kelleher also discovered that union-affiliated plumbing contractors were generally more successful than their non-union counterparts. That’s how he ended up approaching Joe Walsh at Local 12. Kelleher’s classmates and friends at the training center included Tim Fandel, now a Local 12 business agent, and Dan Bent, executive vice president of American Plumbing and Heating in Norwell, and now president of the Greater Boston Plumbing Contractors Association. He apprenticed with the contractor, Maurer and Sforza, and his first job was a bio-lab at Harvard. “Ironically, I was renovating the same lab space where I had once done biology experiments,” Kelleher says. “Now I was there working with a really great crew of guys. I loved it.” One of the most unexpected turns occurred while he was working in that lab. A friend ran the Harvard Summer School writing program, and asked him to teach a course in grant writing—a field where he had experience. “After working during the day as a plumbing apprentice in the biolabs, I’d change my clothes, walk into Harvard Yard, and teach a class.” To this day, Kelleher is a member of the Harvard Faculty Club.
He eventually set up his own shop and hired Barney Doherty, who was one of his plumbing mentors. Kelleher later got a gig at the massive Deer Island sewage treatment plant project and worked for seven years with contractor J.C. Higgins on quality control. He says that he was able to call on many of his skills, including plumbing and writing, while reviewing the project’s piping systems. Good fortune Those skills, along with his government relations and administration experience, served Kelleher well in his next job heading up the PHCC/Greater Boston Plumbing Contractors Association. “It was really good fortune,” he says. “It’s been terrific all the way along.” Of all the things he and the organization have been able to accomplish, Kelleher says that he’s most pleased about the positive, productive rapport the contractors have maintained and strengthened with Local 12. “It is so important in the labor-management field to realize that our fates are tied together.” He says he has been fortunate to work with thoughtful, smart, and capable people who have been willing to listen, both among the contractors and at Local 12.
The feeling is mutual. “We couldn’t have asked for a better person,” says Harry Brett, Local 12’s business manager. “A lot of unions can’t brag about having a great relationship with contractors. We can. A lot of that has to do with Hugh.” So, what’s next for the retiree? He recently finished the novel he began in Europe all those years ago. Kelleher says he may publish a book of the poems he’s been writing since his Harvard days. He recently returned for a visit to Alaska, and says he hopes to journey to other far-flung corners of the world. Also keeping Kelleher busy: The triple-decker that originally inspired him to consider a career in construction led him to expand his real estate holdings to five properties. Now he has the skills and the license to do some of the plumbing.
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The intermission cometh What do plumbers have to do with plays presented at Boston theaters? Generally, not much. (Although if a production of “Don’t Drink the Water” comes to town, it might inspire audiences to consider plumbers.) But, according to a Boston Globe article, plumbing is very much on the minds of theatergoers—specifically, women attending some of the city’s older theaters, such as the Opera House, the Shubert, and the Wang Theatre. That’s because during intermission there are mad dashes to the women’s restrooms for the limited number of stalls. Since women typically take longer to, um, do their thing, the state’s plumbing board updated the plumbing code and introduced “potty parity” in the early 1990s. New theaters are required to provide at least one toilet per 30 females, while the code calls for one toilet per 60 males—and half of those may be urinals. But existing theaters, with their woefully low number of women’s fixtures, are grandfathered in and exempt from the law. To make matters worse, the Globe points out that females account for a disproportionally high percentage of the audience at plays. So what’s a theater to do? Apart from hiring plumbers to install more fixtures (which some theaters have done), the Opera House, Wang, and Shubert have resorted to a simple, if ingenious quick fix: They’ve hired matrons to direct traffic in the women’s bathrooms. Like line wranglers at the registration desks of large hotels or the checkouts at huge grocery stores, they send women to available stalls and keep the queues moving as quickly and efficiently as possible. About a year ago, the plumbing board reconsidered the issue and added an amendment to the code that allows offices, restaurants, and other venues to convert gender-specific restrooms to unisex
restrooms. The American Repertory Theater in Cambridge took advantage of the code update by removing the “Men” and “Women” signs and designating its bathrooms as “Individual Stalls” and “Individual Stalls with Urinals.” By giving women increased access to the A.R.T.’s stalls, it makes intermission less stressful for them. It’s literally a case of potty parity for men, however, who now have to get in line with women at the theater.
At the play, the bathroom’s the thing.
Local 12’s Amato goes full circle Continued from page 3 voc that he got a warped sense of unions and Local 12. “In high school, one of the instructors told us how horrible unions were. When you’re a kid, you’re easily influenced. I later found out he was a foreman for a nonunion shop,” Amato says. After graduating in 1989, Amato worked for some plumbing and heating shops. He later partnered with his brother, who had been employed by the gas company but was let go, and serviced water heaters, installed boiler systems, and offered other plumbing services with their own shop. When the gas company rehired his brother, Amato worked on his own for a while. Amato didn’t think much about Local 12 until he met his future father-in-law, Joe Ferraro. A member of Operating Engineers Local 4, Ferraro talked about the pension, annuity, financial security, and other benefits he got from the union. Taking his father-in-law’s advice, Amato applied to Local 12 and became a member in 2001. He went to work for E.M. Duggan and remained there through 2017 doing new construction as well as service. Amato worked his way up at the company and became a foreman. While at Duggan, he met Tom Orlando, a former president of Local 12. “Tommy taught me a
lot about the local. What it stood for. What it meant,” Amato says. Orlando encouraged him to get involved with the union, and Amato served a number of positions, including chairman of the election committee. After getting to know Barbati, Amato was intrigued by the organizing work he was doing. “I appreciated how much Local 12 had helped me and saw what it meant to other members. I thought how great it would be to get the word out to non-union plumbers and told one of the business agents that I’d be interested in the organizer position when Dave retires,” Amato says. He didn’t have to wait that long. Harry Brett, Local 12’s business manager, wanted to expand the business development and recruitment department and offered Amato the new position soon after he expressed interest in organizing. Amato says that he is enjoying the new challenge and excited about the work. “I really like the sales aspect of it. I can back up how great Local 12 is. If you are a plumber, why wouldn’t you want to have the best benefits and make the most money?” Amato asks. “Let’s get real.” Brett says that “Frank is a true believer” and brings a great perspective to the position. “He knows the difference Local 12
has made for him. That it’s for all plumbers. Not just ones who work for big shops.” Going full circle, Amato has been visiting vocational schools and talking with students about Local 12. He says that the union wants the best plumbers so that it can continue to grow and thrive. Thinking about the instructor that led him astray back when he was in the voc, Amato says it’s important to set students straight. “We want them to know what we’re really all about. They need to understand we’re here to help them.”
Plumbers & Gasfitters Boston Local 12 1240 Massachusetts Avenue Boston, MA 02125 617-288-5400
Editorial Board Daniel Bent President, Greater Boston PCA Harry Brett Business Manager, U.A. Local 12 Tim Fandel Business Agent, U.A. Local 12 Roger Gill Funds Administrator, U.A. Local 12 Jeremy Ryan Executive Director, Greater Boston PCA