RETIRED — Telecommunications International Representative Kevin Curran, who served as the Brotherhood’s lead negotiator with AT&T for most of the last 15 years, retired effective Sept. 1, ending a nearly 40-year career in the industry.
“Kevin is one of the smartest guys I know,” Telecommunications Director Robert Prunn said. “He isn’t outgoing or overbearing. He’s more on the quiet side. But when he had a point to make, he damn sure made it.
“There are members that Kevin has helped during his career, and especially in the last 15 years, who don’t realize how much he helped them,” Prunn added. “With his knowledge of all things telecom, he was extremely good at contract language.”
Brother Curran grew up in a union household in Oak Forest, Ill., a Chicago suburb. His mother was a member of the Steelworkers. His father was a Teamsters member.
Still, while appreciating what unions stood for, the younger Curran originally envisioned a different path. He graduated with a business administration degree from Trinity Christian College in 1989, with an eye on a career in investment banking.
But while working toward that degree, Curran landed a job in AT&T’s call center division and became a member of Chicago Local 188 in 1987. After graduation, he found that the job paid well enough with better benefits than any other offer, so he decided to stick with it.
He became a union activist when he attended a Local 188 meeting to complain about weekend scheduling.
“He’s always there, and his head is always in the game.”
– Downers Grove, Ill., Local 21 Business Manager Paul Wright on Kevin Curran
“Our business manager told me, ‘We’ll look into your concerns,’” Curran said. “But if you are really looking for things to be better, you should help be part of the change, not just complain.”
He took her advice. Curran became a Local 188 steward for AT&T’s division covering Chicago’s South Side. At about the same time, he was offered a job by Lehman Brothers, the global financial services firm.
He turned it down. Later, Lehman’s bankruptcy was a major reason for the 2008 financial crisis, and it ceased operations soon afterward.
“I never regretted that decision,” he said. “Not just because that company went bankrupt, but it forced me to do some soul searching and I realized I enjoyed my work and being part of the IBEW.”
Curran served as Local 188’s assistant business manager in 1995-98 before the local was amalgamated into Downers Grove, Ill., Local 21. He was a Local 21 business representative and executive committee member before becoming its assistant business manager in 2006.
He left four years later to become an international representative in the Telecommunications Department in Washington, D.C., a job he stayed in until his retirement. A high point came in the mid-2010s, when Curran led a successful organizing effort of DirecTV employees after AT&T acquired the company in 2015.
The drive brought in about 3,000 new members to the IBEW from 15 states. Curran and the rest of the organizing team had to work quickly because another union also was attempting to organize the same employees.
“It was definitely challenging,” Curran said. “But I enjoyed it quite a bit.”
Local 21 Business Manager Paul Wright, a longtime friend who also was a leader in the organizing drive, called Curran “Mr. Reliable.”
“He’s always there, and his head is always in the game,” Wright said. “He’s quiet, but he’s always scoping out the room and he can read every person before we start negotiations.”
Wright and Curran also worked closely together in contract negotiations with AT&T, the last being in 2022. That agreement called for improvements in wages, holiday pay, health care coverage and job protection. Curran and others called it the most lucrative contract for members working for the company in at least 20 years.
“He’s such a stable guy,” said Wright, who is chairman of the T-3 AT&T System Council. “Someone could be passing a line of BS at him, and that person might think it was convincing. But Kevin would just let it slide off his chest.”
In retirement, Curran and his wife, Theresa, a kindergarten teacher in suburban Washington, plan to relocate to Gulf Shores, Ala., to be closer to the beach, play more golf and travel. They have one son, Nick.
“When you get a job, you hope to earn enough money to support a family,” Curran said. “But to do something for an organization you believe in like the IBEW is really special. I always treasured that.”
The officers and staff thank Brother Curran for his many years of service and wish him a long, happy retirement.
