2005 NETWORKING® MAGAZINE’S DAVID AWARD HONOREE.

JOHN KENNEDY

President and Secretary Treasurer
Building and Construction Trades Council of Nassau and Suffolk Counties

BY MAUREEN TRAXLER

Jack Kennedy, 12-year president and secretary-
treasurer, and his 60,000-member Building and
Construction Trades Council of Nassau and
Suffolk Counties are proud of their volunteer
o contributions to Long Island.

“We’re proud we’re union,” says Kennedy, “and
proud to be a part of the fiber of the community.”
Under Kennedy’s leadership, the members of the 36union
Council roll up their sleeves and help fellow
Long Islanders with compassion and, on their own
time, donate their skill and knowledge to soothe the
lives of those in sadness and those in need.

Some of the projects in which the men and women
of the Council participated include the Town of
Brookhaven Vietnam Veterans Memorial on Bald Hill
across from Town Hall, an almost life-sized replica of
the national memorial in Washington, D.C., and the
granite memorial at Smith County Park dedicated in
memory of the 230 victims of the 1996 TWA Flight
800 disaster.

In addition, the tradesmen and women are quick to
volunteer their services to other Long Island community
endeavors. In addition to building the soccer
fields at Stony Brook University, they’ve donated
their Building Trades talents to the Little Flower
Children’s Services residential center in Wading

River, a facility where children age 7-15, who have
lost their most precious gift of family, learn daily living
skills and how to manage life’s problems.
Preserving Long Island’s heritage, they assisted with
restoration work at the Hallockville Museum Farm in
Northville, a re-creation of a turn-of-the-20th century
North Fork farm with seven original historic structures.

In Nassau County, the tradesmen and women have
devoted their time and skills to renovate a facility
that houses an after-school program for disadvantaged
youngsters and donated a quarter-million-dollars
of labor time to restore a vacant parochial school
in Hempstead to make way for the Family and
Children’s Association’s Family Resource Center.

“Our members love to reach out and give something
back to the community,” notes Kennedy.

Kennedy has a history of service, too, becoming a
charter member of his community’s volunteer fire
department when he saw an opportunity to use his
training and skill to help his neighbors. The father of
three sons, he also devoted time at all levels in the
Boy Scout organization.

Born and raised on Long Island, Kennedy grew up
in East Northport, went to parochial and public
schools and graduated from Northport High.

Although he had the choice of going to college or
learning a trade, he chose to become an electrician
apprentice because, he says, “I like working with my
hands.” He received his apprenticeship certificate
from Local Union 25 of the International
Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in 1959.
Over the years, he enrolled in specialty training and
quickly moved up the ranks to journeyman, foreman
and superintendent. His desire to work on behalf of
the union led to his becoming a shop steward, union
delegate and official, and finally the Local’s business
representative and manager.

“To better equip myself to communicate with the
public and business,” Kennedy adds, he enrolled in
the Cornell School of Industrial Labor Relations program,
graduating in 1974, and the School of Labor
Negotiations, graduating in 1978.

As head of the Building and Construction Trades
Council, Kennedy oversees the organization’s outreach
program, bringing men and women into the
trades – plumbing, carpentry, masonry, and electrical
crafts – through apprenticeship programs. Kennedy
sees present day tradesmen’s’ training as “more
technical and varied in scope” than in the 1950s and
60s, while maintaining stringent entry criteria and
completion requirements. And contrary to conventional
wisdom, he adds,

“Long Island, especially Nassau and Suffolk, leads
the state in the numbers of women apprentices and
tradespersons, due in large part to the outreach of
the industry.”

Kennedy has served in various capacities with
professional organizations, including former Suffolk
County Executive Gaffney’s Labor Advisory
Committee, the IBEW, New York Coastal Erosion
Committee, Industrial Relations Research
Association, New York State Apprenticeship
Council, Long Island Federation of Labor, Long
Island Development Corporation and the Stony
Brook Advisory Council. During his service on the
Long Island Association Executive Board, he says he
has been able to “bring balance between business
and labor.”

“I feel I’ve been able to open the eyes of business
and show that labor can be a strong force for economic
development on the Island,” says Kennedy,
who has been a board member with the Brookhaven,
Calverton and Riverhead Economic Development
Zones. The EDZs encourage business to come into
the zone, taking advantage of available tax benefits.

Recognizing opportunities for labor, Kennedy is a
member of Sustainable Long Island and participates
in the organization’s advocacy for the restoration of
brownfields. He sees this endeavor as “a form of
recycling of existing or old industries.” The trades
Council assists with environmental remediation, and
he adds, “Once the property becomes a safe work
site, we can take it to the next level and build a
building there.” Kennedy also works with
Sustainable Long Island in advocating for workforce
housing – a crucial factor on Long Island – to
increase zoning density and bring down housing
costs.

Thirty-year Smithtown residents, Kennedy and his
wife Joan, a registered nurse, have six children –
John, Julia, Jo Anne, Jennifer, James and Jeffrey – all
who live within the Manhattan to Long Island area,
and 18 grandchildren.

“I like my work,” says Kennedy. “Every day I get
up and go to work, I figure I’m blessed that I still
have the strength to do as much as I can for the
labor movement. I would say I’m content.”

NETWORKING® January 2005