Shown (from left) are: EIIC board chairman, Brian O’Dwyer; Steamfitters Local 638 business agent-at-large, Robert Bartels; and EIC executive board member and event chair, James LombardNew York, NY A Queens native and labor leader has been acknowledged by the Emerald Isle Immigration Center (EIIC) for his outstanding contributions in improving work conditions for immigrant workers. Robert Bartels, Jr., business agent-at-large for the 8,500-member Steamfitters Local 638, was honored at the EIIC’s 28th annual gala, which was held at the Manhattan Club and attended by 240 people.
Other event honorees included William Lynn, business manager/financial secretary for I.U.O.E. Local 30 and New York Friends of Ireland.
A 35-year industry veteran, Bartels is a leader of Steamfitters Local 638, which advocates for union workers, ensuring safe conditions, quality wages and healthcare, pensions and other benefit protections.
Bartels and other honorees were also recognized with proclamations from Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-14th District, Queens & Bronx) and Manhattan borough president Gale Brewer.
“It is an honor for the Emerald Isle Immigration Center to recognize the efforts of the Steamfitters union in aggressively advocating for the middle class construction workforce that we represent,” said Bartels. “Unfortunately, in our city and in construction in general, we see so many individuals trapped in dead-end, non-union construction jobs that lack even basic safety standards or medical coverage. We must expect and demand better. Every day the union movement fights to protect worker rights and maintain what is left of our city’s middle class, working families.”
Steamfitters design, install and maintain the inner workings of the buildings that make up New York’s iconic skyline. This includes critical fire sprinklers, piping, heating and cooling systems in tens of thousands of high-occupancy commercial, residential and industrial buildings throughout New York City, Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
Bartels was a Local 638 business agent from 2007-2015, overseeing East Brooklyn and Midtown Manhattan. In 2016, he was elected as the union’s business agent-at-large, one of the union’s highest-ranking officials. He has served on Local 638’s executive board and as a trustee on its Pension, Welfare and Education Funds.
The Emerald Isle Immigration Center provides assistance on all aspects of immigration, social services, mental health, senior services, employment and education programs. It was founded by members of the Irish Immigration Reform Movement in 1988 and has served tens-of-thousands of New York Irish immigrants and other ethnicities.