United Association Sprinkler Fitters Local Union 676
81 Market Square
Newington, CT 06111
An Overview
Local 676 was chartered in January of 1971. This followed a legal disagreement within the previous
Local, 669 According to an affidavit by Mozart G. Ratner, the attorney retained by the Sprinkler Fitters
Association of Connecticut, “in a word, their complaint was that they had no control over, or say in, the
internal affairs of Local 669, in the expenditure of its funds, and in the negotiation and policing of its
collective bargaining agreements…They also complained that an existing agreement was being invaded
by the employers with impunity... They also believed that Local 669 and its members were being
discriminatorily denied the autonomy and democratic rights other U.A. locals and members under the
U.A. Constitution generally enjoyed.”
According to Michael Livingstone, Business Manager, “the case went back and forth for about a year,”
with strong advocacy on the part of the late John V. Maher, the Local President. Local 669 was a “road
local,” meaning that its members traveled to wherever companies had work. The resolution of the case
was that Local 676 “carved out a piece of 669’s territory,” and re-structured. Today the Local covers
Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Western Massachusetts, with between 350 to 400 members who work
for about 40 contractors. It is one of seventeen sprinkler fitters locals in the United States, all of whom
bargain with the National Fire Sprinklers Association, to which most companies belong. (Independent
companies sign on to the agreements negotiated with the NFSA.) Mr. Livingstone says that “all contracts
mostly mirror each other” throughout the country, adding that Local 676 has only had two arbitrations
and one four day, union-wide strike (in 1978, over holiday pay.)
Local 676 continues to be a member of the United Association. There are 350,000 members in the U.A.,
15,000 of whom are sprinkler fitters.
According to Mr. Livingstone, the most important event in the Local’s history was being granted a
charter from the International in 1971. Its greatest success has been its increasing growth and gaining a
larger market share of the sprinkler industry. Its greatest present day issues and concerns are protecting
workers’ health and welfare benefits and pension plans, as well as workers’ rights in general.
The Records
Most of the Local’s records are kept at the 81 Market Square office, which the union has rented since its
inception. Records of the Apprentice program are, however, kept in Rocky Hill (in the Sheet Metal
Workers’ building, where the apprentice program rents space.) Records that the Local has retained
include:
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•Boxes of notebooks of meeting minutes going back to 1971, as well as tapes of the meetings
for the first fourteen years (the Local stopped taping its meetings in 1986)
Telephone logs dating back to 1974
Correspondence to and from the International, including letters in 1970 about the lawsuit
Membership records which go back to “Day 1” of the member’s relationship with the union,
which tell when the person joined the Local; the person’s apprentice and work history; and
would include any record of commendation or of a problem on the job
The financial reports are part of the monthly minutes, which, as noted, date back to 1971.
Mr. Livingstone notes that, in January of 1974, there was an attempt to impeach the then-Business
Agent, and that he subsequently sued the Local. This case went on for four years. Mr. Livingstone
estimates that about 20% of the Local’s existing records at that time were lost, as officials of the time
either took the records or destroyed them.
Mr. Livingstone also states that the primary record keepers for the Local are the Recording Secretary
and the Financial Secretary, and that few records are kept on computer to date.
CONTACT: Michael R. Livingstone, Business Manager 860-666-4447