Per Your Requests, A Little Bit About Me. The Author Of This Blog

January, 2010



I have been asked to post a biography on this site by multiple people. I have, all my life, maintained a degree of privacy. In light of the situation I am involved in with the union and what I am posting for you to see, I agree that a little about me is fair. Question is, what do you want to know? What is too much or too little? Here is my attempt…..


My name is Michael Anthony Prate. I was born May 10, 1952. I am 6 feet tall and weigh 180. I have brown eyes and brown hair.


I was born in Chicago Illinois on a fine spring day. I was placed with Evangelical Child Welfare agency in Chicago until a foster home was found for me. I was with my foster parents, Ben and Gertrude Boss, for a period of 13 years. We lived in Palos Hills and Oak Forest. The Boss family was of Dutch heritage and a religious household. My religious upbringing was in the Christian Reformed Church. I had been baptized Catholic. I had no idea I was a “foster child” until one day I was told my father was coming to visit. Shortly after, there was a custody hearing and I ended up in Chicago at 900 N. St. Louis Avenue with my father and my stepmother. What a shock and change! From an all white upper middle class parochial high school, (Chicago Christian) to a Chicago Public High School, Rezin Orr High School. I graduated from Orr in 1970.


I have been working since I was nine years old. Growing up in my financially struggling foster home with 5 siblings wasn’t easy, but we survived. I had a paper route, cut lawns and did anything anyone needed including babysitting. Being able to earn an income gave me a sense of accomplishment that I was helping the family. At 11, I was pumping gas at Nick’s Marathon on 147th and Central after school, weekends and in summer. I was also learning how to work on cars from one of Nick/s mechanics (David Heinemann). When our neighbor had an addition put on I was fascinated. The general contractor let me help clean up, move materials and such on the site. This was my first introduction to construction sites!


When I moved to the city I found work through a property manager that owned several properties at the Grand and Damen area. My new stepmother worked at Petricca’s on Western Avenue and Grand Avenue. I would go see her after school and get to go to the Blackhawks games on the charter bus, someone always had an extra ticket. (Yes, I am a 44 year long Blackhawks fan! Go Hawks!)


At 15, I had my own studio apartment about 2 blocks from my father’s house. Our relationship was strained and I found it easier to be on my own. At that time I worked the midnight shift at a Clark gas station on Chicago Avenue and Kedzie Avenue. I was in the Fillmore Police District (many great stories!!) I was also attending school and working after school at Federal Envelope Company on Sacramento Blvd. Two jobs and school left little time to get in trouble, but…..


I spent my summers laboring for several contractors, Chell & Anderson, Herlihy Mid-Contintent Construction and Slezak Construction were a few. I enjoyed being around the trades. Upon graduation from high school, I decided to get into one of the trades. I settled on finishing concrete and had a good job working my way through the apprenticeship.


On a jobsite one day I met a shingler, Jack Petty. We became friends over a period of time. Jack had told me about roofing and the idea of piece work really appealed to me. I left concrete and Jack taught me how to shingle. Jack was a great shingler, but a poor businessman. His company, Palatine Roofing, would have work some days and none on others. I left and tried several other companies including Rosenow Roofing for a short period of time.


Around the middle of 1971 I was not happy with how most of these companies treated me, the customers, or the job, so I went to work for a man that I had met previously (Horst Herzing of Herzing Roofing Company in Arlington Heights). When I started working for Herzing there were 3 employees including myself. Horst sold work and played cards in the back room of the office. After 9 months I was estimating work in the afternoons after shingling all morning. The business was growing and I was looking for security. Horst kept making me promises and in mid 1973 I cornered him with an ultimatum. Horst thought I would not leave, so he made a lowball ridiculous and offending offer. I picked up my personal items and left, never looking back.


When I left Herzing had over 30 employees. I told the men that worked there that I would call them when I got situated and if and when I had work for them. I wasn’t in too much of a hurry to find a job. I had plenty of “side work”. The side work never ended and in 1974, while roofing a house for an attorney, I got educated on what it took to become a “legitimate” business. In 1974, Michael A. Prate, Inc. was incorporated. 36 years later we are still here! I have been fortunate to prosper in my business life and I am blessed with 8 children and 4 grandchildren.



Today, Prate Installations is a full service roofing company. We have had a “full package” approach to the customer for over 20 years. We include roofing of any kind, shingles, shakes, slate and tile, sheet metal of all types including; standing seam roof and ornamental work. We also provide flat roofing and related flashings, insulation and siding; including Hardie round out our complete exterior package along with fascia, soffit and complete gutter systems of any materials. Our work includes new construction, the tearoff and reroof work and covers residential, industrial and commercial project. One of our major strengths is historical reproduction work.


Our main geographical area to work in is Lake Michigan on the East to Rockford out West. Indiana border to the South and Milwaukee to the North. We also travel and have recently completed large projects in; Sag Harbor, Long Island; Raleigh, North Carolina; Des Moines, Iowa and Milwaukee, Wisconsin to name a few.


Through out life I have tried to live and practice at work as well as home the Golden Rule, “Treat others as you would like to be treated”. Most of the time this does work.


I currently sit on the Board of Directors of the Residential Contractors Employment Council (R.C.E.C.) and have since 1998. I am a Director of The Construction Industry Service Corp (C.I.S.C.O.), and have served as a Director of The Chicago Roofing Contractors Association (C.R.C.A.), and am now Secretary of this organization. I have served as a Director of the Wauconda Chamber of Commerce and was President of that organization for 2 years.

Through Prate Installations and myself personally, we have always believed in helping others. Throughout the years we have donated cash and services to many individuals and organizations. Until the 2008 recession, Prate Installations sponsored an annual “Make-A-Wish/Prate Golf Outing” and successfully raised over $95,000.00 to grant the wishes of many children from the Make-A-Wish Foundation. We offer below market value discounts for churches and charitable organizations and enjoy distributor and manufacturers support in these offerings.


The rest, and there is so much more, would be too much to digest right now. The blogs fill in some of the time from 1998 to current.


Perhaps the one important thing you should know about me and my 10 year fight with the Carpenters Union is that it is not about money. The dollar never meant much to me and I never had any aspirations of high earnings. What did matter to me was to be the best at whatever I did! Low and behold, financial rewards happened! What is most important to me is that I have kept my commitment to my employees, of which I still have my original employee (Tim McGill) working for me for 35 years now.


I believe that The Carpenters Union, with malicious intent, attempted to destroy me and Prate Installations. This was because I forced Earl Oliver (deceased past president of the union) to quit extorting from my industry and be accountable to me and all of the other signatory contractors to the Carpenters Union. Earl was a bully. I have always disliked bullies and have a documented history of defending others against bullies. I did not care how tough he was, how much money the union had, what they were and are doing now is wrong. The Carpenters Union just always had gotten away with their one sided approach. Rock the boat and they crushed you.


I started with nothing. If I end up with nothing, that’s o.k., not fair, but o.k. But I will never let a bully organization like the Chicago Carpenters Union screw over me or all of you card holding union members.


My ultimate goal is to be made whole for what this union wrongfully did to me, my family, my company, my employees and their families. Along with that this is exposing to all of you Carpenter Union members how I believe you are being cheated, knowingly by these guys, you union’s officials and their attorneys. At some point I hope to get the U.S. Government involved to protect your pension funds. This union doesn’t care about you. Ask yourself “What has the Carpenters Union done for me?”

Before I end this bio, let me make it perfectly clear that Michael Prate did not take on the Carpenters Union and beat them alone. I could not have done it without the tremendous amount of support from family, employees, vendors and friends. I will elaborate more on that once the final appellate decision comes down. To those that supported my efforts in this crusade, thank you, your sacrifices are not in vain.


My goal is that, through this blog, you will learn what I unfortunately have had to live with, which is the truth about the Carpenters Union officials.



Respectfully,




Michael A. Prate