SLU graduate student Joseph Juntunen has been working in the nightclub and entertainment industry for most of his life, and organizing there for almost as long. The quest for better conditions and fairness is what drove him, pure and simple. That’s what he thought, at least, until discovering that his forbears were strivers for workers’ rights, too.
“I’m from a long line of Finnish troublemakers,” said Joseph, a Labor Studies master’s student. Joseph Ensio Juntunen is named after his great-grandfather, Ensio Juntunen, who was the first son of migrants from Finland in the early 20th century. Ensio was raised and lived in a mining company town in Upper Michigan before moving to Illinois where he became a steel worker. Joseph’s grandfather became a communications worker and moved the family to Denver, the city where Joseph was born 45 years ago. (He grew up between there, Long Island and the Bronx.)
“I don’t know how they did it, but they somehow instilled all these values without ever talking to me about this stuff,” he said. “My grandfather passed away, and my grandmother gave me a box, and it had a union card from CWA (Communications Workers of America). And it had a letter thanking him for his years of service from the CWA president. And that told me a lot about who he was.”
The grit in Joseph’s DNA was essential when he was living on his own at a tender age. He found a safe harbor and some fun at Manhattan nightclubs of the 1990s like CBGB, Limelight, SOB’s, Roxy, Wetlands Preserve, Webster Hall and Coney Island High. The path would eventually lead him to organizing, but first he had to survive.
“At what many would consider to be an inappropriate age, I was in the streets. I was finding places that would let me in the back door,” Joseph said. “It was a different world back then. Nobody was really caring that maybe you were only 13 years old and maybe you’re actually getting in there because you need somewhere to sleep for the night.”
He got a job at the Pyramid Club on Avenue A and learned to run sound and lights. Then he was hired by a band, one thing led to another, and many jobs would follow. Joseph grew into a seasoned sound engineer, which meant working around the clock for subpar wages and no benefits. So he began organizing to shape working conditions for the better.
And he’s had success. Today, all stage crew members at the live music venues Webster Hall and Brooklyn Steel are represented by the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) thanks to years of organizing efforts by Joseph and his allies. He worked as a sound engineer at both venues alongside those who perform the many technical, building and production tasks involved in professional entertainment. Joseph fought to get them the same benefits as their peers doing the same jobs at larger venues like Radio City Music Hall.
Above: At left, Joseph and his son join in the Labor Day parade in 2024.
Now, as a student in the Labor Studies master’s program, Joseph revels in the opportunity to expand his thinking about labor challenges past, present and future.
“Every single time I’m here, in every class I’ve taken, something pops out and helps nurture and develop ideas, new or old ideas, prove or disprove ideas or strategies,” he said. “The experience and the aptitude and knowledge that the staff and the professors are bringing to the table is amazing. A lot of the professors here are also union activists with the PSC. To be with all these other students that are all fighting their fights in their respective industries – it’s just an incredible ecosystem of activism. And it’s reassuring. Every week when I go home, I feel refreshed, like I’m not nuts.”
And Joseph wants to stay for a while; he’s happy taking one course per semester. He began college by getting an Associate’s degree from Eastern Gateway Community College, made possible by the Union Plus free college benefit program. Then he got his B.A. from the SUNY Harry Van Arsdale Jr. School of Labor Studies. His day job is as a radio repair mechanic for the City of New York, represented by DC37. He’s also a special representative for IATSE’s New York district, enthusiastically organizing to extend IATSE union benefits to concert touring crews.
Joseph lives with his wife, a lawyer, and their two-and-a-half-year-old son in Sunnyside, Queens. He also has two boys in their 20s from his first marriage. When his youngest son was born, labor connections appeared right away. Joseph notes he was born on International Workers Memorial Day, April 28. That day, when mom, dad and baby began making their way home to Sunnyside from Roosevelt Hospital on Manhattan’s west side, was the first day that TV writers were striking outside NBC on Fifth Avenue – and Joseph took the family by to show support. After all, he had recently produced a research report for the Writer’s Guild of America West as part of the Strategic Corporate Research Summer School at Cornell’s ILR School.
So, Joseph said, “He walked the picket line before he made it home from the hospital.” Father and son have marched with SLU in two Labor Day parades as well.
What free time he has often goes into fixing up their unique home, which includes a storefront from which his late father-in-law sold pianos. Or, in a time-honored tradition of working men, he goes to the pub.
“SLU reinvigorates me,” Joseph said. “And also, if I’m honest, my local pub. For centuries, people have gotten together at their local pub and started revolutions. That’s the place for me where I can go and you know, have rational conversations with people that have different views. Or just escape reality for a couple of hours, whatever it might be. It’s a safe space.”