Making a Career of It
Opportunity Rings Twice
Rob Tirella
Job Title: General Laborer
Union Member: Laborers Local 235
Early Employers: Liberty Demolition, Yonkers Contracting Co. and Lendlease Construction Ltd.
Job Site Location: White Plains, NY
Project Owner: New York-Presbyterian Hospital
Six years ago, Rob Tirella got a phone call from a friend, a member of Laborers 235, offering him the opportunity to join a union. Rob had a unique skill set, acquired from years working in his family’s business, All County Appliance, where as a high schooler he would spend time after school and summers greasing, repairing or assembling a veritable cargo-ship-load of tools and appliances that came and when through the Mamaroneck storefront.
After graduation from Harrison High School, he went to college and earned a degree in criminology. However, following a false start in the automotive field he quickly found he was better suited to work outside with his hands and apply the instincts and knowledge he acquired from his father’s business.
“An office desk and a view wasn’t for me,” he said.
Then one day in 2018, the phone rang. It was a friend offering a ticket to a career track with a better future than the one he was on working on a crew cutting lawns and installing the occasional landscape project.
He said no.
Two years would pass and the phone rang again. It was the same friend offering the same ticket to ride. And by now times had changed—with a new wife and plans to start a family. He absolutely knew the timing was right to join Laborers 235.
“It offered a better opportunity and a chance to help build the projects I found complex and challenging,” he explained. The paychecks from the union building work would also go farther to meet a family lifestyle.
He said he also found a mentor in Masimo Buccheri, a veteran Laborer and member of Local 9. Local 235 Business Manager Ralph “RJ” Merritt described Rob as “a hard worker by nature with a proficiency for detail and teamwork.” Mr. Merritt added that he has signed Rob up into numerous classes that have helped him secure work.”
Today, with nearly five years of benefits as a Laborer, at age 35, he is pursuing his ambitions that extend both personally and professionally. He has a two-year-old son and the family is expecting a second child, a daughter. He also has also found the time to pursue becoming certified in Rigging & Hoisting at Local 235. (He said he intends to follow up with classes in Confined Space and Scaffold Use, which Local 235 offers through the Laborers various union training facilities in the region.)
“I eventually want to be the guy on the jobsite who is invaluable to an owner or contractor on a building project. I look forward to working in technically complicated spaces like a hospital or other healthcare facilities. That’s the goal,” he said.
—Researched and written by George Drapeau III
