Robert Larzalere, business manager of International Union of Elevator Constructors Local 23, has accepted a position as organizer for his international union. In the new job, he’ll recruit individual elevator constructors and entire workplaces into the union across an eight-state Western jurisdiction that includes Oregon, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico.
Larzalere will start the new job in February as soon as Local 23 chooses his successor. Members will cast votes for a new business manager at their Feb. 12 meeting, and if no candidate gets an outright majority, a runoff vote will take place Feb. 26.
Local 23 represents 295 members — licensed specialists who construct, maintain, and repair elevators, escalators, and moving walkways.
Larzalere, 46, joined the union in 1997 at age 18, following his dad and other family members into the elevator constructors trade. He worked in the jurisdiction of Local 18 in Las Vegas and later Local 126 in Hawaii before transferring to Local 23 in 2017. In addition to working for the big four elevator companies, he also spent 18 years as an instructor in the union’s apprenticeship program. At Local 23 he immediately got involved. He was elected business manager in April 2022 and re-elected in 2025.
Larzalere’s new title is national organizer for the Western region. He’ll report to Pat McGarvey, director of organizing. He’s replacing organizer Steve Simpson, who’s taking another assignment.
Larzalere will continue to be based in Portland but expects the work will take him throughout the region. One advantage he’ll have as an organizer for the elevator constructors union: The union doesn’t recruit new members until there’s a job at a union employer that they can fill.
“I live and breathe this union and unionism in general,” Larzalere told the Labor Press. “So the opportunity to go out and try to work with people and show them that there’s something better than what they’re already getting, I am extremely looking forward to that.
