Mike McGuire

Mike McGuire is a 45-year member of the Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA). Recently retired, Mike held the title of political director of the Mason Tenders’ District Council of Greater New York and Long Island, an umbrella organization of five locals of the Laborers’ International Union of North America for the last three decades. These local unions represent many professions, including demolition experts and hazardous waste remediation specialists. Over the course of the rescue and recovery effort and clean up at Ground Zero, upwards of 4,000 members of LIUNA worked on the pile and surrounding environs. 

Over the years McGuire either wrote or worked on numerous pieces of legislation that became law. Working within the coalition to pass the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Act of 2010 and the subsequent reauthorizations were among the highlights of his career.  Beyond Zadroga, most of Mike’s legislative work has centered around worker health and safety. Over the years some of the bills that he wrote and passed included Carlos’ Law, which increased the maximum penalty for egregiously killing a worker on a job site fifty-fold; the creation of the NYS Construction Site Fatality Registry housed in the New York State Department of Labor;  training and certification standards for the erection, maintenance, and dismantling of standing scaffolds; and the Master Environmental Hazard Remediation Technicians (MEHRET) certification registry housed in the New York City Department Environmental Protection.  This passion for workers’ safety was born from his 16-years in the field, where Mike held titles from Shop Steward to Construction Superintendent. During this time, Mike was certified in first aid and CPR, and he carried his Asbestos Handlers license and a federal Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) certification.

In recent years Mike has, at various times, served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center; the governing board of the CUNY Institute for American-Irish Studies; as the Vice Chair of the Public Safety, Environmental and Human Rights Committee of Community Board 6 in Manhattan; on Governor Eliot Spitzer’s Transition Team working on the updating of the NYS Department of Labor; and the transition team of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg, where he worked on increased enforcement policies for worker safety.