Organized Labor

By Richard Bermack
Contributing Writer

We are pleased to introduce a new regular feature in Organized Labor. Labor photographer and writer Richard Bermack will be photographing and interviewing our members at jobsites, highlighting the craftsmanship and labor that builds our great city. If you would like one of your crews or projects featured in an upcoming issue, get in contact with us. We hope you enjoy this feature.

Wiring the Academy of Science Building in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park is one of those once in a lifetime projects, as journeyman electrician Eugene Garcia describes it. Garcia is just out of the IBEW Local 6 apprentice program. His sense of excitement and wonder is shared by electrical foremen Diane Almirol and John Consiglieri, both veterans nearing retirement, with over 20 years in the trade. The 400,000 plus five-story building project includes a planetarium, a glass-dome enclosed rainforest, a split-level aquarium, restaurants, classrooms, research centers, and an auditorium. Above it all will be a massive roof garden. And it is a green building as well, with state of the art power conservation management. After the job is done, the workers we spoke with, San Francisco Bay residents, plan to return for generations, bringing family and friends. "I helped build that," they’ll say.

Diane Almirol Lighting Foreman - 23 years

The logistics are hard. Five floors and I have to be all over the place. It’s a lot of leg work and running around, but the challenge makes it fun. It’s a landmark building, it’s a green building, and there is a lot of stuff we are doing that is new and different.

It’s wonderful to be working on a project in the park. I was born and raised in San Francisco and I am going to retire in San Francisco. I worked on the de Young Museum and now I’m here. I was hoping to do two big city landmark projects, and now I can look back and say, "I did the fire alarm at the museum and the lighting here." It’s a cool thing. It’s my back yard. I have only a few more years before retirement, and this will be my last hurrah.

Ryan Day Lighting Crew Foreman - 7 years

We’re using Lutron Lighting controls. There are a lot more details than the 277 lighting circuits. I don’t know that much about them yet, but I’m looking forward to learning about them and all the details of the different motors and pumps for the aquarium, and learning about all the green technology. You wouldn’t see all this normally. The guys in my crew started working in Africa Hall. Now we’re on the third level running the lighting for the offices and conference rooms, and then we’re going to do the auditorium. We all came out of the apprentice program. Two of the guys were in the class below me and two in the class ahead, and now we’ve been working together for years. The Local 6 program is top notch. The camaraderie you build up working together is something that lasts your whole career.

Thomas Lommori Apprentice Program

It’s very cool going to school and learning a trade. At first it was a little [intimidating working on a project like this], but it keeps your brain working, bending all the pipe and figuring out all the measurements. It’s pretty exciting, and all my classmates are good people. It took a year for me to get into the program, and now my little brother is trying to get in and I told my friends about it. All the local guys are proud that we are working on this project. We’re building San Francisco! It’s great to feel like you are doing something good. We’re all looking forward to coming back with our kids and showing them what we helped build.

John Consiglieri Foreman, 27 years

The way the building is being built, with all the angles and elevation, it’s been hard to get all the conduit there, especially to the rainforest, and with all the detailing. It’s challenging, but the guys were right on top of it, and we made it happen, especially the general foreman and cat operators. There is a lot of pipe out there that we had to pick up.

We have a great group, about 80 guys and two general foreman. I manage 8 to10 guys, and it’s pretty smooth running.

I worked on the City Hall remodel, the library, the Lucas project, and now this. It’s been a good run. I put two kids through college, and now I’m looking forward to bringing my grandchildren to show them the aquarium and the library and the other projects I’ve worked on.

Eugene Garcia Journeyman - 6 months

I’m working on the aquarium. Everything has to be air tight and water tight to be able to withstand the salt water. All the disconnects are stainless steel, and all the anchors are either fiberglass or stainless steel. We’re on the phase of testing out all the tanks. We have salt water and ozone filters, pH monitors, temperature sensors. There is so much to talk about. It’s the type of project that only happens once in a lifetime. The apprentice program was great. We took one baby step at a time until we learned the trade and got the confidence so we can continue and pass it on to the next generation of journeymen. I’m proud to be a Local 6 union man.

Christine McKenna Journeywoman - 11 years

The place is like a maze. One day a wall will be open, and the next day they sheetrocked it and you can’t figure out how to get around. You might start out at one side of the building, then you go across a floor, down a floor, up a floor and end up all the way on the other side of the building in the middle of the courtyard. It’s pretty interesting. I get to learn a lot of new stuff. Normally I wouldn’t do lighting; now I have to learn different controls and building power management. I’m still trying to figure it all out. It’s amazing how they can control things from 400 feet away. They can control the 3rd floor from the 1st floor. It’s a lot of fun. They are going to put in a whole garden on the roof. There are not a lot of places like that. When I have kids, I’m going to take them to the aquarium and say. "I helped build this." It really feels good. When I was a kid I always wanted to work here, and now I am, in a way.