IUEC Local 4 Celebrates 125 Years of Bringing Boston to the Top
Recently, the International Union of Elevator Constructors (IUEC) Local 4 celebrated their 125th anniversary with a dinner and dance at Boston’s Omni Seaport Hotel. Members, families, and friends of Local 4, along with leadership from IUEC international offices, building owners, company owners, and individuals from IUEC Locals across the United States and Canada – gathered together to celebrate this important and remarkable milestone.
Formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in February of 1899, Local 4 now has over 1,250 elevator constructors working at IUEC signatory companies including the nation’s largest and most recognizable names such as TK Elevator, Kone, Otis, Schindler, Mitsubishi, and Fujitec – along with smaller independent elevator companies like Stanley Elevator, Atlantic Elevator (North and South), 3 Phase, and Metro Elevator New England.
Business Manager and Financial Secretary Pat Sampson told ElevatorInfo that Local 4’s jurisdiction covers a lot more than most people think – not only the greater Boston region, but from the tip of Cape Cod all the way up to Maine and New Hampshire, and extending about 45 miles west to Interstate 495 in Massachusetts.
“There’s just a certain vibe you get from working in the city of Boston – the city of champions as some people like to call it – as opposed to anywhere else,” said Tim Morgan, an IUEC National Organizer who served as the Business Manager of Local 4 from 2019-2024.
Because of the strength of their education program, their unwavering dedication to jobsite safety, and a culture of craftsmanship and professionalism, Local 4 members have been the top choice for building owners and managers to install, service, maintain, repair, and inspect elevators and escalators in Boston and beyond, performing “about 98% of the work here,” said Doug Cullington, President of Local 4. “We believe in unionism, safety, and training, and that’s what keeps us strong.”
“No matter where you’re going in the streets of Boston you run into an elevator constructor you get a hello. It’s the best group of men and women in the industry,” said Dave Morgan, a Local 4 member and former Business Manager who is now the Executive Director for the National Elevator Industry Educational Program (NEIEP). “Family is a lot of things, you know, and the brothers and sisters of Local 4 make up a great family.”
While many elevator constructors from Local 4 who have held leadership positions at the Local have become leaders at the international level, all maintain that sense of pride in where they came from.
“I’m a Local 4 Boston Elevator Mechanic first and foremost. That’s the core of who I am,” said IUEC Regional Director Kevin McGettigan. “Local 4 and this international is very, very strong. It has a commitment to its membership, and everybody needs to celebrate that commitment, and we all need to support each other. You need help from your friends? That’s what we are. We’re your friends.”
Tim Morgan spoke about how past leadership in Local 4 set a high standard that remains a core part of the culture of the Local to this day. “I obviously had the best mentor – my father (Bob Morgan) – and what I like to call the dream team of leadership – Eddie Sullivan, Frank McGettigan and Larry Graham. Moving on, I think the leadership that followed was just an extension of them because everybody held the same standards and the same qualities moving forward. So Steve Sampson, Kevin (McGettigan), and even my brother, Dave Morgan…I was just following what I was taught from those gentlemen.”
IUEC General President Frank Christensen, IUEC General President Emeritus / AFL-CIO Building & Construction Trades President Emeritus Ed Sullivan, and former US Secretary of Labor / former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh were all featured speakers. People attending the event enjoyed live entertainment from a nine-piece orchestra, a 360-degree photo booth, and the Boston Bruins’ own Todd Angeli singing the National Anthem.
Ed Sullivan was a keynote speaker at the event. He joined IUEC Local 4 in 1964 as an elevator mechanic, working as a construction mechanic and service adjuster for 17 years. He then became the Business Manager of the Local in 1981, and in 1996 moved on to international leadership positions in the IUEC including Assistant General President and General President before accepting a position as President of the Building and Construction Trades Department of the AFL-CIO. During his tenure at AFL-CIO, he started the Helmets to Hardhats program, which helps United States military Veterans transition to careers in the building trades. He was also a founder of the Union Sportsmen’s Alliance, a nonprofit organization with a mission “to unite the union community through conservation to preserve North America’s outdoor heritage.”
During his speech, Ed Sullivan read a poem called “The Caretaker” by Murray Kempton, which exemplified his thoughts on what it means to be a union leader. “Not the owner of an institution, (but) the caretaker of a tradition,” he said. “The union doesn’t belong to you. It doesn’t belong to me. It belongs to all of those that belong to it … I think basically that’s what I tried to do, live my life like that, live my job like that. And I that’s what they’re doing today… the principles that they have. And that’s what I think has made the union what it is today.”
He continued, “I’m incredibly proud and grateful for the lifelong friendships that I made through Local 4, and I’m incredibly proud that we helped make the IUEC the best labor union in the entire world,” he said. “I’m proud to be here at this celebration. I was at the 90th and the 100th anniversary… I’m proud of what they do here.”
IUEC General President Frank Christensen was also a featured speaker at the anniversary. He congratulated the Local on their longevity and success, and thanked Ed Sullivan for being a mentor. “If I’m ever going to look at a labor leader, somebody with honor that they have pride for…he took me under his wing in the early 90s,” he said. “He’s always somebody I look up to, always somebody I ask for advice.”
Marty Walsh, former US Secretary of Labor and former Mayor of the city of Boston, spoke about Ed Sullivan as not only “a labor leader, but he’s more than that in this country. He means a lot for the labor movement.”
An important labor leader with Boston roots himself – and the founder of the Building Pathways pre-apprenticeship program – Marty Walsh has had a long-standing relationship with Local 4. He spoke about their strength and the importance of honoring history and the people who made it possible for them to be the successful, long-standing organization that they are.
“Any organization that starts, and 125 years later is stronger than it was when it began, is a success,” he said. “You think about the importance of this Local union…the benefits you have, the healthcare you have the pension you have, the working conditions you have… we’re standing on the shoulders of individuals who started this Local union, and the people that were there in the beginning days fighting for all of the things that didn’t exist when this Local was created. It’s our obligation as union members, as union families, to continue that and pass that torch forward.”
Local 4 President Doug Cullington agreed. “Local 4 has been around for a really long time,” he said. “It goes all the way back to our retirees, our founding members, our founding brothers and sisters that worked hard in the trade. We believe in a good work ethic. We believe in a good product. And with that work ethic, it continues through with the officers and the local. And we believe that everything that we’ve done in the past is done the right way and proper, and we’re bringing that right through to future.”
While in Boston, we also had the opportunity to speak with Steve Sampson, who served as Business Manager from 1999-2003. Today, in his retirement, he works as an instructor for Local 4’s NEIEP apprenticeship program, where he passes on his technical expertise as well as his leadership experience to apprentices just beginning their careers in the trade.
“I was very fortunate, as a Business Manager, when we had the 100th anniversary here in Boston – I thought that was just spectacular, all of the members and their families getting together and just having a wonderful time and being appreciative of the Local for what they’ve done for us. And now we come to 125th anniversary… these members today are so lucky to have such a great union, and to be able to celebrate its 125th anniversary. It’s just amazing.”
Congratulations, Local 4. In the words of Marty Walsh, “let’s keep kicking ass and get another 125 years of this union in this country.”
