Chicago Ironworker links craft pride, history and recovery

Today’s conversation on the America’s Work Force Union Podcast with Paul Goodrich, a member of Ironworkers Local 63 in Chicago, offered a grounded look at how today’s trades workers are navigating changing construction methods, apprenticeship training, labor history and the growing push to address mental health and substance use.

Speaking from his own experience as an ironworker, teacher and foreman, Goodrich described a union culture that is adapting to new pressures while holding fast to the values that built it.

• Ironworkers Local 63 continues to train highly specialized finishers while adapting to design changes and labor-saving construction methods.
• Labor history remains central to apprenticeship education, especially in Chicago, where union struggles shaped the broader workers’ movement.
• Recovery support and mental health awareness are becoming more visible in the trades as members speak more openly about substance use and job-related stress.

Ironworkers Local 63 carries a distinct place in Chicago’s union skyline

Chicago’s skyline is often discussed in terms of architecture, engineering and scale. Less often, the public hears from the workers whose hands complete the visible finish of those structures. On America’s Work Force Union Podcast, Paul Goodrich, a member of Ironworkers Local 63, described the specialized role his Local plays in that process and how a long tradition of ornamental and architectural work has shaped its identity.

Local 63 occupies a distinctive place within the Iron Workers Union. Goodrich explained that the Local traces its roots to the architectural ironworkers of Chicago and remains one of the few Locals in the International with a deep ornamental focus. That history still matters on the job today. While many ironworkers are known for structural work, Local 63 members are trained in the finishing systems that give high-rise buildings their final visual form, from curtain wall systems to ornamental installations.

That specialization is reflected in the pride Goodrich brought to the conversation. He framed the Local’s work not as an afterthought to construction, but as the final layer that defines how a city is seen and experienced. In a place like Chicago, where the downtown skyline is part of the civic identity, that role carries weight.

How technology and building design are changing ironworker jobs

The interview also offered a view of how construction is changing. Newer building methods and mechanical advantages have reduced the number of workers needed on some projects, Goodrich said, even when the structures themselves are larger and more complex.

That shift is not unique to ironwork, but it is especially visible in a trade where manpower once defined the scale of the operation. Goodrich contrasted earlier curtain wall projects that required large crews with more recent jobs completed by far fewer workers using improved systems and more efficient designs.

The result is a familiar labor tension. Technology can reduce physical strain, improve efficiency and extend careers by lowering the most punishing manual demands. At the same time, it can cut manhours and shrink opportunities if unions do not organize aggressively and claim emerging areas of work.

Goodrich acknowledged the trade-off and pointed to organizing, market expansion and jurisdictional strategy as the practical response. For the building trades, that means adapting to innovation without sacrificing worker standards or allowing new methods to become an excuse to erode labor’s share of the industry.

Apprenticeship training in Chicago blends craft instruction with labor history

Goodrich also spoke about the apprenticeship program at Local 63, including a new training facility designed to expand hands-on instruction in glass systems, curtain wall work and other specialized installations. He credited union leadership with investing in a center that can serve both Local apprentices and union members from other areas seeking ornamental training.

But the most revealing part of the discussion may have been his role in teaching labor history. Goodrich said his class moves from the growth of Chicago through the rise of industrial conflict and into the labor struggles that shaped the city and the nation. That includes the Haymarket era and the broader fight for the rights many workers now take for granted.

He believes younger workers need to understand that the standards they inherit were not handed down by employers or public officials out of goodwill. They were won through organizing, sacrifice and collective action.

In Chicago, that lesson carries special force. The city remains one of the defining centers of American labor history, and Goodrich suggested many apprentices are surprised to learn how contested the workplace once was. For workers entering a unionized environment with strong wages and benefits, the idea that union brothers from previous generations had to fight for such conditions can be difficult to imagine. That is why history matters, he said.

Organizing still turns on the same worker frustrations

Goodrich’s organizing perspective reinforced another enduring labor truth: workers still organize for many of the same reasons they always have. They want better pay, more respect and more control over their working conditions.

He noted that construction organizing differs from shop-based campaigns because workers move from site to site, but the underlying grievances remain familiar. Even in a strong union city, workers still face employer resistance, legal delays and procedural barriers that can drain momentum after organizing victories.

That part of the interview underscored a larger point for labor audiences. Union strength does not eliminate conflict. It changes the terrain of the fight. Workers still need institutions, organizers and public attention to turn support into enforceable gains.

Mental health and recovery are becoming central issues in the trades

The most personal and powerful section of the interview came when Goodrich discussed recovery, mental health and the culture of alcohol and substance use in the trades. He was careful to speak from his own experience, describing how a hard-work, hard-living environment can normalize unhealthy coping mechanisms, especially in a trade where physical pain, long hours and injury are common.

Goodrich said union health coverage and access to treatment were decisive in helping him get sober and rebuild his life. He described recovery not as an isolated medical event, but as part of a broader support structure that included rehabilitation, therapy and a workplace culture that is slowly becoming more willing to talk openly about mental health.

That perspective is especially important in construction, where suicide and substance use have become urgent concerns across the industry. Goodrich explained that members speaking openly about recovery can help shift the culture, making it easier for others to ask for help before a crisis deepens.

He also pointed to peer support efforts inside Local 63, including sober spaces and conversations among trades workers who understand the particular pressures of the job. That kind of support matters because workers often respond best to people who know the culture firsthand rather than more generic messaging.

Why union support remains the foundation of dignity on the job

By the end of the conversation, Goodrich returned to the core labor argument that ran through the entire interview. Better wages, health care, dignity and workplace voice do not appear by accident. They come from union organizations and collective bargaining.

Goodrich argued that union membership remains one of the clearest paths to economic stability and respect at work. The value of being in a union is evident in training, health coverage, recovery support, and the ability to build a life with some measure of security.

That is what made the interview resonate. It was not only about one trade or one city. It was about the continuing relevance of unions in an economy where workers still want what they have always wanted: fair pay, decent care and dignity on the job.

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