The membership of Laborers Local 91 officially pushed nearly 40 years of one-man rule into the past on Saturday, electing a slate of officers focused on moving Niagara County's best-known, and often most infamous, union ahead.
Rob Connolly, who won the business manager's office held by the late Michael "Butch" Quarcini for almost four decades, said the high turnout -- 491 of the union's 647 members cast votes -- proved that Local 91 is ready to turn the page on a history of violence and corruption.
"These guys care about the union and that's a really good thing," said Connolly, who defeated Louis Fazzolari with more than 62 percent of the vote. "That things went our way was good. It shows that people want to move on with this union. Hopefully, we can do that with everybody sticking together now."
Simply holding truly open elections signaled a break with the past. Once Quarcini established control after taking office in 1964, few dared challenge him or his selections for other union offices.
Saturday's vote signaled the beginning of the end of the trusteeship the union operated under since federal authorities rounded up Quarcini and 13 other Local 91 officers and members in May 2002.
Quarcini died last year. The other defendants, as well as former officer Joel Cicero, who was subsequently added to the indictment, face a November trial date in Buffalo's federal court.
Still, Butch's shadow hung over the month-long campaign leading up to Saturday's vote.
Numerous Local 91 members told the Niagara Falls Reporter that Quarcini's widow and their daughter, deposed secretary-treasurer Cheryl Cicero, doggedly worked the phones on behalf of the slate of candidates they favored. Active members reported the campaigning included threats of blacklisting, while retirees said they were told the "new regime" would squander their pension money.
The scare tactics failed miserably, as the ticket headed by Connolly -- a 22-year Local 91 member and former sergeant-at-arms -- swept every race.
After the arrests and felony indictments on multiple counts of racketeering and extortion, the Laborers International Union of North America took over, placing the union under a trusteeship that expires when the new officers are sworn in Aug. 9. Connolly, Rob Malvestuto and Enrico Liberale had been running the day-to-day operations out of the Seneca Avenue union hall since being named acting business agents.
Local 91 members chose Malvestuto as the union's new president, while Liberale won the secretary-treasurer's post. Other winners included Steven Beahen (vice president), William Grace (recording secretary) and Randy Butler (sergeant-at-arms).
Connolly said he plans to appoint Malvestuto and Liberale as business agents and that the three will continue leading the union together.
"Every decision I make, I talk over with them," Connolly said. "I think the members will come together now that they've voted us in and we weren't just appointed."
Despite the contentious nature of the campaign, he believes the membership will close ranks behind the new officers.
"We talked to the other candidates and we agreed that we've all got to stick together," Connolly said. "We were always a strong union, like a big family. I think our people, now that the election is over, they want to be that family again."
Mark Cerrone, a contractor who is also a member of Local 91 and typically employs 10 to 15 union members, said such unity is a crucial first step.
"The two factions that ran against each other have to move forward with everyone working together," Cerrone said. "That's the only way it can be."
Emerging from the trusteeship marks a turning point for Local 91.
"It's better that we're independent," Connolly said. "(The trustees) were here to do their job and make it so the government wouldn't come in and take over. We did it with the help of the members. We had to prove to them that we were ready to move forward and they had to prove to the government that we were moving ahead."
That forward progress includes building better relationships with contractors and other unions, who were frequently the targets of threats and worse under Quarcini's leadership, according to federal indictments.
"They are very willing to step up to the plate and work with the contractors, and have been ever since they've been in," Cerrone said. "I see the local being able to move forward behind them and hopefully unite itself."
The new officers, though, have to balance that effort with their primary responsibility -- protecting the interests of Local 91 members.
"Contractors have told us they can talk to us a little better than they could in the past," Connolly said. "But the bottom line is that they've still got to abide by the contract."
Jurisdictional disputes with other unions sparked job-site violence in the past, including a brawl during construction of the Wegman's store on Military Road cited in the federal indictments.
"There are always going to be battles over different issues, but we seem to be getting along with most of the unions now," Connolly said. "We're always going to have our differences."
How those disputes get worked out -- through reasonable negotiation instead of with threats and fists -- may be the biggest difference in the new Local 91.
"There's not a set way of settling things," Connolly said. "You've just got to keep communications open with everyone."
Connolly said the biggest challenge for Local 91 and its leadership is the same one facing every union and business owner in the area.
"I think just the economy the way it's going and the lack of anything happening in this county, the lack of anything being built -- that's the major obstacle," Connolly said. "My major obstacle is to get everyone to work somehow."
| Niagara Falls Reporter | www.niagarafallsreporter.com | July 27 2004 |