Engineers News - April 2015

seasoned veterans of the trade and the union – like local resident
Rickey Holmes, who works for Anvil Builders.
He has been a Local 3 member since 1988, mainly operating
heavy equipment, but operating elevators has been easier on his
body in the last few years. As he transports workers, he notes all
the work that’s going on in the city.
“We’re building there, building there, building there,” he said,
while pointing in every direction. “Gov. Brown is putting us back
to work. This place looks so different.”
Another Anvil Builders elevator operator, Dave Mitchell, also
aids in the transportation of workers up and down, and in this line
of work, he’s become a good listener.
“I know their lives better than a barber shop or a nail salon!” he
joked. He plans to retire in about three years and has spent the last
20 working in the Bay.
Retirement, however, is very far away for apprentices Andy
Pereira (District 10) and Robert Litchfield (District 60). Pereira
has been working as an oiler and operating the forklift, while
Litchfield has been getting some experience on the 80-ton Grove
crane. Both are being mentored by Huerta and Lorimor, and they
proudly welcome the experience and pace of the job.
How could they not? As they work on the Transbay Transit
Center, it is hard not to be San Francisco Proud.
Moving more than dirt
It’s definitely been a long haul. After our
operators completed the excavation
phase on the Transbay Terminal early
last year, it was tallied that their total
“haul” was 640,000 cubic yards of dirt,
but in that process, they discovered
so much more deep below the earth’s
surface in San Francisco.
It was widely reported that Local 3’s own
Brandon Valasik, a crane operator onsite,
discovered a tooth from a Columbian
mammoth that roamed the earth more
than 12,500 years ago, which is now
on display at the California Academy of
Sciences. Other artifacts unearthed from
our members’ handiwork include ancient
wine bottles, teapots, combs and other
artifacts indicative of the people and
culture during the Gold Rush Era in the
19 th century. Some of these artifacts are
on display at the Transbay Joint Powers
Authority building in San Francisco and
can be viewed below.
Teapots, combs and other artifacts on display at
the Transbay Joint Powers Authority building have
been uncovered by Operating Engineers during
the excavation phase of the giant Transbay Transit
Center project.
Crane Operator Glenn Marr works for Balfour Beatty on the high-profile Transbay
Transit Center in District 01.
April 2015 | 17