RETIRED — Dennis Affinati, a dedicated IBEW unionist with a record of organizing success, retired as international vice president for the Third District on Nov. 1. He had served in that role since 2022, when International President Lonnie R. Stephenson appointed him to succeed the retiring Michael Welsh.
Affinati was born and raised in northern New York state, graduating from Carthage Central High School and earning an associate degree in electrical engineering from the State University of New York at Morrisville.
On summer breaks from school, he worked for his brother-in-law’s contracting business and as a “grunt” for a general contractor, carrying lumber and making cuts.
As he studied, Affinati gravitated to electrical work. “In engineering, you start with general math and science. As you progress, you have to pick your discipline, and electrical was the direction I wanted to go.”
He enjoyed hands-on work more than the calculating that goes with being an engineer. “I’m not saying I would have hated that, but I’m glad I decided to go the route I went,” he said.
After college, Affinati was accepted into membership as a residential trainee with Watertown, N.Y., Local 910. Following his IBEW initiation in 1985 as a residential trainee, he quickly became interested in union activism.
“I was always happy to assist the local however I could,” he said. “I felt I needed to give something back to the IBEW.”
Shortly after Affinati topped out of his apprenticeship, he learned that Local 910’s organizer needed volunteers to be salts.
“I went up to him and said, ‘I’ll raise my hand,’” said Affinati, who was assigned to take a job with a nonunion contractor.
“I did my work day-to-day, and I would also try to explain the benefits of the union to my co-workers,” he said. “But on a Sunday night, the contractor called me and said, ‘We don’t have any more work for you.’ By coincidence, I had just started wearing IBEW paraphernalia.”
Emboldened by that experience, Affinati went on to serve on Local 910’s Political Action and Brotherhood committees and its examining board. In 1995, he was appointed the local’s treasurer.
In 2000, Local 910 Business Manager George Intschert saw something in Affinati and hired him as an assistant business manager/organizer. Affinati continued the local’s progress toward strengthening its market share.
“I tried to keep the culture of organizing as our top priority.”
– Retiring Third District International Vice President Dennis Affinati
“One of the biggest adjustments was that the sense of daily accomplishment was much different” from working the tools, he said. “As an organizer, you don’t really feel like your job is done. There are days when you feel you didn’t accomplish a thing because things don’t go the way you want them to.”
A lot of things did go in the local’s favor, with numerous electrical contractors — and even some credit union workers — organizing into the IBEW under his watch.
For several years, Affinati also was Local 910’s training director, and he was a trustee on the local’s pension, health and welfare funds.
In 2004, Affinati was appointed business manager and financial secretary of Local 910, whose 500-strong membership spans six counties in New York’s North Country region. He split his time between the local’s main office and training center in Watertown and its satellite office and JATC in Plattsburgh, on the state’s border with Vermont.
Among the local’s accomplishments during Affinati’s tenure was securing IBEW-represented work at Fort Drum, something that also provided the U.S. Army base’s veterans a pathway to IBEW apprenticeships.
Additionally, he served a term on the IBEW-NECA Council on Industrial Relations. He also represented the IBEW with the Jefferson, Lewis and St. Lawrence Counties Central Trades and Labor Council, and was the financial secretary for the Syracuse and Central-Northern New York building trades councils.
In 2014, International President Edwin D. Hill appointed Affinati to be an international representative for the IBEW’s Third District, which covers New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. He shared desk representative duties — first under International Vice President Don Siegel and then Welsh — with International Representative Kris Anderson, until Affinati’s appointment as international vice president.
“I feel it’s been just a tremendous honor and privilege,” Affinati said. “I’m blessed. There’s no doubt about it.”
Welsh praised Affinati as someone who never rushed to judgment in any of his roles.
“Dennis always took time to consider the situation at hand and took a practical way to address it,” Welsh said. “He looked at things and then tried to pick the best option.
“He’s an analytical person,” Welsh added. “He’s always been good at that.”
As an international vice president, Affinati continued to prioritize membership development. “I’ve always felt that the best use of our resources is to grow the district and to organize,” he said. “I tried to keep the culture of organizing as our top priority.”
The 62-year-old Affinati said now felt like the right time to retire.
“I have the best life that any man could ask for, with a great family and lots of friends, and I wanted time to enjoy that,” said Affinati, a motorcycle and hunting enthusiast. He has also been active in his local Italian-American Club, where his father was a founding member.
Affinati met his wife, Beverly, when she was the internal organizer at the credit union that Local 910 organized. They have three children. “We have one grandson, and he is the greatest,” Affinati said. “We’re going to spend more time with him and the rest of our family.”
The retiring vice president saluted his successor, former Third District International Representative Frank Muia.
“Frank’s an organizer himself, and we’ve known each other for a long time,” Affinati said. “He’ll have a good support team, and I have no doubt that he’ll do a great job and move our district forward.
“I think we’re prepared for more organizing, and I feel that I’ve set the district on the right track,” he added. “We have a great deal of work coming up, and I think we’re going to have some unprecedented growth in the district over the next five years.”
The Brotherhood wishes Brother Affinati a long and happy retirement.
