UA Local Union 393 member and Pipe Trades Training Center Instructor Wayne Machado signed the pledge.

By joining our “Campaign for a Secure Future” as a team leader, he vows to help our union build the power we need to keep our pensions strong, our health plans funded and grow market share for union construction and service members. He knows UA Local Union 393 must continue to be a powerful voice defending America’s middle class and all working people!

“It’s our future. It’s our work. It’s our livelihood,” said the 32-year-old pipefitter, who is bringing the campaign to his hometown of Santa Clara. “It’s important to know what’s going on and contribute in any way you can.”

To Wayne, that means influencing the Santa Clara City Council to approve more union-negotiated, family-supporting Project Labor Agreements, or PLAs. There are rumors that the city will eventually break ground on a new downtown near his house — a mixed-use development with retail, entertainment, office and residential space — and if that finally happens, Wayne wants union workers on the job.

But first, Wayne needs to mobilize people to join this movement. Since the campaign launched a few months ago, Wayne has been calling 393 members, talking to his students at the Pipe Trades Training Center and striking up conversations with people at work.

Wayne’s pitch doesn’t sugarcoat it: There’s a ton of work going on in our area right now, but we cannot let that lead us into complacency. While we, as a membership, and our union contractors are busy on the large, high profile projects that require large amounts of workers and contractor resources, this provides opportunities for low-wage, low-bid, non-union, out-of-town contractors to establish themselves in our communities. When the work slows down — and it will — what will prevent them from securing the few jobs left when they have already established a presence in our area? To protect our families, our communities, our work, and our local, we need to continue to grow and secure as much union work as we can.

“It’s hard to get people to think about the future,” he admitted. “So many people are just happy doing what they’re doing. They’re focused on where they’re working, keeping busy.”

But Wayne understands — there was a time where he himself wasn’t attending union meetings as often as he’d like. So he’s hoping that incentive prizes will help motivate members. The campaign recently started a recognition program that rewards members every time they volunteer with a raffle ticket. During the annual summer picnic, those tickets will be placed into a drawing for prizes.

Wayne is also working to engage members of his community organization, Santa Clara’s Old Quad Residents Association. He wants his neighbors to join the Local in rallying for PLAs too, so any new development money stays local. The idea is that Santa Clara projects will be built by Santa Clara workers, who will spend their paychecks at Santa Clara’s businesses.

“It’s not just unions benefitting,” he said. “It’s benefitting the neighborhood.”