WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Pictured above, new District Director David Wasiura (on the left) and Assistant to the Director Stephen Finnigan (on the right) are now leading United Steelworkers (USW) District 4 into the future.  Friends for 25 years, the two Union Leaders are aiming to grow USW Membership in order to make the lives of their Members better when it comes to wages, health and safety on the job.  (WNYLaborToday.com Photos)

(BUFFALO, NEW YORK) – United Steelworkers (USW) Union Brothers David Wasiura and Stephen Finnigan have been friends for 25 years now, an invaluable relationship which they both agree will benefit them in helping guide USW District 4 now that Wasiura has assumed the position of District 4 Director and Finnigan as Assistant to the Director.

Wasiura succeeds retiring Director Del Vitale, whom he served as Assistant Director for four years.  Meanwhile, Finnigan oversees the USW’s New England Locals in Massachusetts and Maine within vast District 4, which also includes the States of New York, New Jersey and Delaware, and the territory of Puerto Rico.

WNYLaborToday.com interviewed the USW Leaders just before the Christmas Holidays at the Union’s Buffalo Headquarters and it was apparent - right from the start, that the two were more than comfortable in not only working together, but working together on what needs to be done for USW Membership.

“We’ve known each other for (25) years and ‘we’ve always worked together.’  ‘I’ve always had David’s back,’” Finnigan, 69, said.  “(Wasiura) has a ‘great vision’ for our Union.  David has been here (throughout his USW career) ‘and he has a different vision of where we need to be.’  ‘His strength is that he is very caring.’  I just ask: ‘What can I do for you?’”

Wasiura, 48, said: “Steve ‘has always been a mentor and a friend.’  ‘We sit and talk, a lot.’  We talk about the ‘different dynamics’ (within the leadership positions they hold and the different employers they deal with), ‘but we’re on the same page because of our trust factor.’  It’s a ‘big’ District we have, ‘we just have to do the work.’  He’s always saying: ‘David, it will be alright.”

In 1996, Wasiura began his career as a fourth-generation Metal Worker in Buffalo when he followed in his Father’s footsteps and took a job at the American Brass facility, just a few blocks away from his family home.  Over the next 15 years, Wasiura served in several positions in his Local 593, including Vice President and as a Bargaining Committee Member.

In 2004, during the Kerry-Edwards Presidential Campaign, Wasiura volunteered to knock on doors and talk to Union Members on issues critical to Working Families.

In June 2010, he went to work in the Political Department at the USW Headquarters in Pittsburgh, where he was involved in coordinating the Union’s National Field Program in multiple locations and campaigns across the United States.

In January 2013, Wasiura returned to District 4 as a Staff Representative, working with local Union Members in New Jersey and New England before returning to Buffalo to serve as the District 4 Organizing Coordinator.

A four-year graduate of the USW’s Leadership-Scholarship Program, Wasiura has bargained contracts and organized new Members across a wide range of industries throughout the District.

He has also served as the District’s Next Gen Coordinator and as an Executive Board Member of the Western New York AFL-CIO Area Labor Federation.

Since December 2019, he has served on the New York State AFL-CIO Executive Council.

Growing up in Quincy, Massachusetts - Finnigan, his four Sisters and his Brother were raised in A Union Family.

His Father worked for Boston Edison and was an Executive Board member of the Boston Edison Clerical Union Local 387.  

In 1972, Finnigan joined Boston Gas and USW Local 12003.

In 1979, he ran successfully for the Local’s Treasurer position.

In 1985, Finnigan was elected to the Union’s Bargaining/Grievance Committee and later served as Local 12003’s President from 1994 to 1998.  

In 1998, he joined USW District 4 as a Staff Representative.  

Since 2004, he has served as District 4’s Sub-District Director.

His twenty-plus New England Locals represent both Private And Public Sector Workers - including – but not limited to: National Grid; the City of Boston; Eversource, Berkshire Gas; the Town of Foxboro; and a New Bedford Steel Plant, Allegheny Technologies (ATI).

As President of the USW’s Staff Union since 2014, Finnigan bargains on behalf of 350 Staff Members in the U.S. and Canada.

And as a Massachusetts AFL-CIO Vice President, he also serves on the Executive Board of the Greater Boston Labor Council and the Labor Guild.

Currently, there are 38,000 Members across USW District 4 who are employed in a variety of occupations, from manufacturing to “casket-makers and grave diggers,” said Finnigan, adding: “We ‘want to grow’ the District.  ‘We have a lot to offer.’  ‘The USW record proves it and we represent our people pretty damn good.’”

“(The Union’s) Growth (is a priority),” said Wasiura, who is extremely proud of the USW’s Next Gen and Women of Steel groups and what they are doing.  “And ‘we want to groom our leaders of tomorrow because everyone moves on.’  People who are prepared to take over (the reins of running District 4) in the next ten years - ‘we’ve got to plan for that because there will be a lot of challenges, and retirements.’  ‘We need to get to the point where we’re ahead of that curve.’”

Both agree that educating USW Membership “on a lot of things” is also a priority, including their safety and health on the job, as well as what their Union is doing for them legislatively with a host of Elected Officials on the Local, County, State and Federal levels.

“That’s ‘another big piece,’ educating them on the legislative process ‘so they understand our efforts on their behalf,’” Finnigan said.

“I ‘do see a lot of opportunity’ (to grow USW Membership), especially in health care, ‘and that gives us hope,’” Wasiura said.  “‘While we’ve had a lot of success, it will never be enough because every Worker should be in a Union.’  ‘We want to give all Workers the same opportunities.’  ‘We want to make their lives better.’”

While there is much optimism that these two Labor Leaders/Friends share, there is the reality that any positive accomplishment or accomplishments “face challenges,” including dealing with and then moving forward after the loss of national leadership with the passing of USW President Tom Conway in 2023.

Another, the recent closing of Buffalo’s Republic Steel.

Then there’s the death of a USW Member who was killed while working on the job in Massachusetts, hit by a motorist who was targeting a Police Officer with his car (The USW has been involved in helping the deceased Member’s Family and raising donations in the aftermath).

With all that, there is still the fight to secure new contracts with employers who aren’t willing to budge at the bargaining table.

“Collective bargaining ‘is tough these days,’” Finnigan says.  “‘It’s tougher now than it has been in a long time.’  Employers are trying to ‘drag it out.’  We’re trying to keep our Members’ pensions ‘and at times it’s next to impossible.’”

But what helps overcome the obstacles, both Wasiura and Finnigan say, are the USW Staff, whom they are providing “support on the ground to get the job done.”

“‘We want to make sure they have the tools to improve the lives of our Members,’” Wasiura said. 

“We’re ‘not here to check boxes,’” Finnigan adds.  “We’re ‘here to look out for our Members and its our Staff that makes sure that happens - every single day.’” 

WNYLaborToday.com Editor’s Note: Individual background on USW District 4 Director Wasiura and Sub-District Director Finnigan comes courtesy of the USW’s website.