'Billy' Londrigan 'made the difference in righting the ship.'

EDITOR'S NOTE: This is the fifth in a series of stories on the just-concluded 35th biennial Kentucky State AFL-CIO convention.

By BERRY CRAIG

Alliance for Retired Americans

Bill Londrigan was an up-and-coming staffer at the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners headquarters in Washington when Steve Barger, the late Jerry Hammond and Luckie McClintock teamed up to convince him to migrate to Kentucky.

Londrigan ended up president of the Kentucky State AFL-CIO, a post he held from 1999 until recently, when he stepped down. The New Jersey native was elected unopposed for six consecutive terms.

But let's not get ahead of the story. 

"He was a sharp young guy," remembered Barger, who was the D.C.-based assistant director of organizing for the Carpenters when he met "Billy" Londrigan. "He had a great background in organizing efforts for the building trades up there. He and I worked together."

Barger, who lives in Louisville, was a longtime Kentucky building trades union leader. He is one of Londrigan's closest friends in the state labor movement. 

Londrigan, 67, who lives near Frankfort, was succeeded by Dustin Reinstedler of Louisville. Elected president at the just-concluded state AFL-CIO convention in Lexington, he is president of the Kentucky State Building and Construction Trades Council and vice chairman of Bricklayers Local 4 Kentucky/Indiana.

Barger recalled that he, Hammond, another longtime Kentucky building trades union leader; and McClintock, business manager of UA Local 452 in Lexington, were trying to get Toyota to hire union labor to build its sprawling plant in Georgetown. They succeeded and landed Londrigan to boot.

"Billy did a lot of work with Jerry, Luckie and me for the state building trades," Barger said. When the business manager-secretary-treasurer position became available at the Greater Louisville Building and Construction Trades Council, Barger and Hammond suggested Londrigan as a candidate. "Joe Warren, business manager of Pipefitters Local 522 also helped recruit Billy," Barger said. "Most of the people liked him, and he did a really nice job there."

Building trades councils across the state are affiliated with the state AFL-CIO. Londrigan became president in 1999 following a widely-publicized embezzlement scandal that swirled around Ron Cyrus, the federation's executive secretary-treasurer.

The state AFL-CIO "was in dire straits," Barger said.

"There were three or four really talented folks that were interested in becoming president," Barger said. "People decided that Billy had the energy, the education and the intellect to do a good job," Barger said, adding that Londrigan was elected without opposition as a consensus candidate.

Londrigan and other reform-minded union leaders restored confidence and trust in the state federation, and the scandal faded into history. Today, the Kentucky AFL-CIO is one of the largest, strongest and most active state labor federations in the Southeast.     

"Billy was the person we needed when we were going through a troubled time," Barger said. "He was the one that made the difference in righting the ship."