Featured Alumni

Harry Melander

Saint Paul College Carpentry Program

When Harry Melander was growing up on the East Side of St. Paul, his father often gave him sage advice. One admonition that young Harry often heard: "'Never leave the house without your humility hat."

What the elder Melander meant was that everyone makes mistakes and experiences difficulties—it's how you react and how you respond to others' mistakes that matters.

Today Melander is executive secretary for the St. Paul Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization that represents carpenters, pipefitters, electricians, bricklayers, sheet metal workers, and others in the construction trades. But despite working daily with leaders in the public policy and business realms, he keeps his humility hat handy—along with a deep appreciation for the men and women he represents.

"'I've been given great opportunities because of the labor movement," says Melander, who attended Saint Paul College (then known as Saint Paul Technical Institute) in the mid- 1970s as part of a Twin Cities Carpenters and Joiners Union apprenticeship program. He also served as president of Carpenters Union Local 87, a chapter with about 3,200 members, the largest local in the Lakes and Plain Regional Council.

As a young man, Melander, 51, didn't expect his career to follow this path. After graduating from Johnson High School in 1973, he began working for Minneapolis-based Ted Glasrud Construction while taking classes at Saint Paul College. Eventually, he earned a bachelor's degree at the University of Wisconsin-Stout and taught for awhile at a technical college in Iowa. "'I wanted to be a college professor, but I have a big mouth, so I went back to my tools and worked with McGough Construction," he says with a laugh, adding that he then became an organizer and then moved up in the union ranks.

Labor unions are a crucial link between working people and a middle-class lifestyle, Melander believes. While union membership has declined in the United States—about 13 percent of workers are now union members, compared to 20 percent in 1983 and more than 30 percent in 1953—the building trades unions remain stable and influential in the Twin Cities. Melander is frequently quoted on economic development issues in the local media and serves on boards to encourage and support the volunteer work done by Minnesota's building trades members. He attributes the organization's success to hard work, flexibility, and maintaining good relationships within the community. The unions have a long history within St. Paul, and have kept up solid working relationships with groups as diverse as developers, business owners, clergy, and city government. "'We respect the challenges these organizations each have, and they understand the challenges we have," Melander says. "'We've developed a very good foundation through more than 100 years of working in this community."

Continuing to build relationships is one of the challenges unions face, Melander says, in addition to continuing to provide middle-class wages for workers. Unions also recognize that the workforce is changing, with more women as well as new immigrants entering the trades. To encourage them to enter the building trades, Melander has been involved in a number of on-the-job training programs, including Minneapolis-based ServeMinnesota, which provides training for young people and workers for nonprofit organizations. "'We want to create a workforce that is diverse and inclusive, one that is as welcoming to these new workers as it was years ago when the new workers were Irish or Italian," he says.

Melander speaks eloquently and passionately about his work and the assistance he has been able to provide in the community in which he grew up. But he's not serious for long before he cracks a smile and takes out the humility hat again. "'When people start listening to me, you know you're in trouble," he says with a chuckle.

Mary Lahr Schier is a Northfield-based freelance writer.