International Operating Engineer - Summer 2015

i n t e r n at i o n a l 

Operating Engineer 

WWW.IUOE.ORG • SUMMER 2015 

Veteran Hands 

Local union program helps those who 

served succeed on the homefront

i n t e r n at i o n a l 

Operating Engineer 

Summer 2015 • Volume 158, No. 3 

Brian E. Hickey, Editor 

Jay C. Lederer, Managing Editor 

16 Boom Time 

Great training opens up great opportunities 

18 Speaking Out for Worker Health 

From operating cranes to saving lives 

16 ‘Combat 2 Construction’ 

Guiding veterans into the employment ranks 

20 Union Plus Scholarship Winners 

IUOE has ten worthy recipients this year 

Departments 

05 From the General President 

06 Education & Training 

08 Safety & Health 

10 Politics & Legislation 

18 Canadian News 

22 GEB Minutes 

28 In Memorium 

[cover] Dana Elmhorst is participating in Local 139’s ‘Combat 

2 Construction’ program in part because he built roads 

while serving in the Army. 

[photo] Dave Backmann/IUOE Local 139 

2 

INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER 

SUMMER 2015 3

International Operating Engineer 

(ISSN 0020-8159) is published by the: 

International Union of 

Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO 

1125 17 th Street, NW 

Washington, DC 20036 

Subscription Terms - $5 per year 

Change of Address - Requests must 

be submitted in writing to the IUOE 

Membership Department (address 

above). Include your new address, 

registration and local union number. 

POSTMASTERS – ATTENTION: 

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Printed in the U.S.A. 

International Union of Operating Engineers 

AFL-CIO 

general officers 

James T. Callahan, General President 

Brian E. Hickey, General Secretary-Treasurer 

William C. Waggoner, First Vice President 

Jerry Kalmar, Second Vice President 

Russell E. Burns, Third Vice President 

James M. Sweeney, Fourth Vice President 

Robert T. Heenan, Fifth Vice President 

Daniel J. McGraw, Sixth Vice President 

Daren Konopaski, Seventh Vice President 

Michael Gallagher, Eighth Vice President 

Greg Lalevee, Ninth Vice President 

Terrance E. McGowan, Tenth Vice President 

Louis G. Rasetta, Eleventh Vice President 

Mark Maierle, Twelfth Vice President 

Randy Griffin, Thirteenth Vice President 

Douglas W. Stockwell, Fourteenth Vice President 

Got Big 

News 

? 

from Your 

Local 

We want to 

hear about it. 

trustees 

Kuba J. Brown, Chairman 

Bruce Moffatt, Trustee 

James T. Kunz, Jr., Trustee 

Joseph F. Shanahan, Trustee 

Edward J. Curly, Trustee 


appreciates the stories and 

photos we receive from 

local affiliates throughout 

North America. Send us your 

submissions or ideas for stories 

you would like us to consider. 

Send your submissions, plus 

photos (digital images are 

preferred), to Jay Lederer 

at jlederer@iuoe.org, or mail 

1125 Seventeenth Street, N.W., 

Washington, D.C., 20036 

From the General President 

That Summertime Swing 

As work hours intensify let’s keep it safe 

I HOPE YOU all are enjoying the 

summer weather at long last. We 

know from reports at the most recent 

General Executive Board meeting 

that our hoisting and portable locals 

are experiencing a great summer 

construction season, manning many 

projects with nearly full employment. 

The red hot pipeline industry 

has cooled off some with a reported 

reduction in overall hours due to the 

decline in oil prices and demand for 

production. In terms of job creation, 

this sector has led the way out of the 

recession and, despite the recent 

slowdown, remains a strong industry 

for Operating Engineers. 

Our Stationary Department 

continues to engage in the regulatory 

and rule making process, attending 

meetings and being a strong voice 

for our members. This work is not 

glamorous, but it is vitally important 

as we address serious issues pertaining 

to safety and licensing matters where 

Building Operators are affected. 

The International’s Health Care 

Initiatives Department, headed by 

David Treanor, has been diligently 

monitoring the costs and regulatory 

affects of the ever changing health 

care industry and the burdens put 

upon our Health and Welfare Funds 

to supply quality care to our members. 

I commend him and all the Fund 

Administrators and Trustees for their 

efforts. 

I am pleased to report that progress 

continues on the planning and 

development of the International 

Training Center. A committee of 

local Training Directors and our 

International staff has been working 

closely with architects, geotechnical 

experts and others to develop a state 

of the art training facility. Our union’s 

commitment and investment in high 

quality training will be greatly enhanced 

and provide even more opportunity to 

our membership to attain the highest 

qualifications in their chosen craft. I 

look forward to sharing more details as 

the project moves forward. 

It’s hard to believe, but the 

presidential election of 2016 is 

already underway. The battle lines 

have been drawn and it’s clear that 

the frontrunners in the crowded 

conservative field are fully prepared 

to do the bidding of corporate power 

brokers who seek to weaken the rights 

of working men and women. 

A full eighteen months away from 

the election, the candidates and their 

campaign committees are awash in 

record amounts of cash. They are 

being staked by the wealthy elites who 

wish to widen the divide by rolling 

back basic workers’ rights to organize, 

bargain collectively and have a secure 

retirement. And these candidates are 

unashamed as they attempt to cast 

American workers and their unions as 

the cause for all of society’s ills. 

I implore each of you to educate 

yourselves and cut through the hype. 

Your home local has solid background 

information on the perils we face in 

maintaining good paying jobs and 

health and retirement benefits. Utilize 

these resources and make an informed 

choice. 

We all understand the struggles 

to provide for our families. We must 

stay focused on that which affects our 

livelihoods most and not get distracted 

by over-hyped social issues that 

disguise politicians’ true intentions 

towards our work. We have seen too 

many examples of that this year in 

state legislatures, where politicians 

got elected running on certain issues, 

[James T. Callahan] 

but then went to work eliminating or 

weakening our rights and prevailing 

wages behind the scenes. Your local 

union has an eye on these attempts 

and certainly needs your voice to beat 

back these attacks from your local 

legislators. 

Unfortunately, our brothers and 

sisters in Canada are not immune to 

similar political challenges. Since 

the Harper Conservative government 

came to power, they have worked to 

undercut the labor movement there. 

The last minute passage of Bill C-377 in 

July underscores their determination 

to weaken unions and target workers. 

Fortunately, Operating Engineers 

throughout Canada have a chance 

to change their government on 

October 19. I urge every member to 

exercise their vote and support those 

who believe in a strong and vibrant 

Canadian labor movement. And when 

you do, take a friend or co-worker or 

family member with you. Let’s all keep 

fighting to make both countries union 

strong. 

Brothers and sisters, as your work 

hours increase throughout these 

summer months, let’s work safely and 

always keep a watchful eye on those 

around you. It is imperative that you 

all go home to your families at the end 

of the day. 

4 



Education & Training 

Boom Time 

Great training opens up great opportunities 

FIFTY MILES NORTHEAST of 

Edmonton, Alberta, a team of side 

boom operators moves hundreds of 

feet of pipe. Working in tandem, they 

keep a keen eye on each other and their 

surroundings, skillfully maneuvering 

their machines below an overhead 

power line to lay the pipe in place. 

Sounds like a typical day working 

pipeline. But this is definitely different. 

You wouldn’t know it watching them 

work, but three weeks ago, none of the 

people in the seats had operated a side 

boom before. 

These operators are the latest 

graduates of the Side Boom Year 1 

course presented by IUOE Local 955 

Alberta’s Training Trust Fund. 

The course runs in springtime each 

year, when the thawing ground restricts 

movement of heavy equipment. 

During this brief pipeline breakup 

window, Local 955’s Training Center is 

dedicated exclusively to the side boom 

course for three weeks. Students spend 

10-hour days at the Center, which is 

comprised of a 3,000-square-foot, 

modern classroom facility on 160 acres 

of land. One or two hours per day are 

spent in the classroom, and the rest of 

the time is spent working on and in the 

machine. 

The course covers subject matter 

and processes including: Occupational 

Health and Safety regulations, 

characteristics of the machine, 

machine systems, basic operations, 

multiple control manipulation, 

construction rigging, hoisting signals, 

and performing lifts. 

The quality of union equipment 

training is unmatched in the industry. 

The key to our students’ success is 

the low student-to-instructor—and 

student-to-machine—ratio. For side 

boom training, that ratio is kept at two 

to one. Our last intake put 18 students 

through the course. 

As Training Trust Fund 

Administrator Darlene Pysyk 

describes, “The fact that we can train 18 

to 20 guys in one training session, that 

isn’t something that’s available across 

Canada. We free up our schedule and 

that’s what we do for that period of 

time—we do side boom training. Other 

training providers don’t do things that 

exclusively and to that extent.” 

The large capacity of the course is 

made possible through partnerships 

with employers, who loan the side 

booms to Local 955 for the course 

during the spring breakup season. “It’s 

in their best interest to provide us with 

the equipment,” Pysyk says, “because 

in turn we provide them with trained 

workers.” 

Students learn on the same 

equipment used in the field, both 

newer hydraulic-draw machines and 

live-draw models that are still prevalent 

in the industry. “We have 160 acres 

so it’s not hard for us to manage nine 

side booms,” notes Pysyk. Students get 

ample opportunity to practice skills, 

and complete the course ready to 

perform on the job site. 

Alternatives for side boom 

training are rare and nowhere near 

as comprehensive. Focused on profit, 

these facilities push as many students 

through a course as possible, sacrificing 

individual attention and seat time per 

student. 

Local 955’s training—offered free 

of charge to referred and approved 

members—puts the focus on the 

student. As Pysyk says, “Members get 

two-to-one training. They don’t have 

eight guys that they have to share a side 

boom with, they’ve got one.” 

With only two students sharing 

each machine, it works out to each 

person getting about 60 hours of actual 

seat time in the side boom throughout 

the course. 

Students gain invaluable experience 

from all that seat time. They learn to 

work in tandem, to communicate, to 

watch for what other operators are 

doing. They are taught to be aware 

of their surroundings and practice 

constant observation. Student Aaron 

Meunier says, “The whole course was 

an eye-opener. Learning wrong from 

right when running live [draw side 

boom] was a big part of the course 

and you learn a lot from the hands-on 

training.” 

Another successful student, Brett 

Chern, says the biggest thing he took 

away from the course was confidence. 

“When you’re running a side boom 

there’s always guys and crews around 

you and you have to be confident 

operating the machine, because that’s 

somebody’s life you’re responsible for.” 

In addition to experience and 

confidence, students walk away from 

the course with increased earning 

potential. All students typically have 

some experience in the pipeline 

industry prior to the course, but this 

training gives them the opportunity to 

move from laborer positions to actual 

operating and gain the pay increase 

that goes along with that. 

Local 955 views all of our 

equipment, safety, and skills training 

as an investment in our membership. 

A highly trained, safety-conscious 

work force is the promise we make to 

industry. The focus and dedication of 

the staff, employers, and students that 

participate in our side boom course is 

the living fulfillment of that promise. 

[left] A Local 955 student completes a field 

exercise. 

[above] Local 955’s side boom class of 

2015. 

[article & photos] Austin Havens, IUOE 

Local 955 Training Trust 

NTF Equipment 

Program Keeps 

Rolling 

IN THE INTEREST of keeping 

our members trained on the latest 

construction equipment, the IUOE 

National Training Fund has continued 

the leasing program with John Deere. 

There are six sets of construction 

equipment that are moved following a 

schedule to different training centers 

across the United States and Canada. 

The sets of equipment consist of a 

75G Excavator and a 344K Loader with 

a fork attachment. 

Pictures shown are courtesy of 

Local 926 in Georgia where one of the 

first sets were delivered. 

6 



Safety & Health 

Jobsite Pioneer Speaks Out for Worker Health 

Local 470 member tells how she went from operating cranes to saving lives 

AT ONE TIME she was in beauty school. A handful of years 

later, she could operate every single crane at the Department 

Of Energy’s Savannah River Site. And then, years after that, 

she started helping her former coworkers receive medical 

screenings for health problems they may have developed 

from hazards they were exposed to on the site. 

Talking to Glenda Jernigan is like hearing firsthand the 

history of labor in the late 20th century, both its successes and 

shortcomings. When she started at the Savannah River Site 

in 1983, her employers, MK Ferguson and later Bechtel, had 

never employed a woman as a crane operator. But operating 

cranes is exactly what Glenda had been trained to do from 

previous work with the IUOE. After passing a rigorous safety 

test, she became the first female crane operator employed by 

either of those contractors on the site. 

At a site like Savannah River, being able to operate a crane 

meant that Glenda was needed all over. She was an A-Class 

crane operator and could operate any crane on-site, including 

the Manitowoc-4100 which had a 250 foot boom and a 30 foot 

jib. She performed dual-lifts with other operators, and even 

used cameras to remotely operate cranes in waste transfer 

stations that were so radioactive that nobody was allowed 

inside. “I did some of everything,” she remembers. “I worked 

with every craft out there- the painters, the electricians, the 

boilermakers, the pipefitters, the ironworkers, the laborers. 

Everybody.” 

“And I had to dress out, go into radioactive areas. 221-H 

was the worst,” she pauses. “A lot of contamination in that 

area.” 

Of course, Glenda wasn’t the only worker who was exposed 

to radiation and other hazards while working construction 

at a DOE site. Thousands of workers, at Savannah River 

and at DOE sites across the country, have come face to face 

with materials and radiation that can have very serious 

health effects several years after exposure. “Trucks carrying 

radioactive waste would come out of the H-area Tank Farm, 

they’d leak and then safety crews would have to tear out 

the pavement. They’d tear up everything. And they’d even 

have to take the tires and wheels and different things off of 

peoples’ cars if they drove on contaminated ground,” she 

says. “I mean, you can see it going on around you and you 

know it’s not good.” 

Now, we know all too well what kinds of exposures Glenda 

and her coworkers could have encountered. Benzene. 

Radiation. Asbestos. Lead. The list goes on. 

Even today, Glenda is still piecing together how her body 

may be reacting to all the hazards she worked around. “It’s 

hard to put your finger on it to say this caused this, this 

caused that,” she sighs. “But I’m sure that some of the things 

I was exposed to have affected my lungs. My doctor told me I 

have asthma, and I never had asthma growing up as a child. 

This has only been in the last few years… and I have to take 

medication for it every day.” 

All this led Glenda to the Building Trades National 

Medical Screening Program (BTMed). BTMed, coordinated 

through CPWR – The Center for Construction Research and 

Training, offers free work history interviews and medical 

screenings to former construction workers at DOE sites. For 

several years, Glenda and her husband Charles (IBEW 1579) 

worked together as a team out of BTMed’s Savannah River 

outreach office, helping to inform workers about the benefits 

of BTMed. If BTMed can catch a serious illness early enough, 

it may prevent an early death. 

“We both talked about it, and we decided that it was a very 

good program, and we liked the idea of helping the workers 

at SRS and the other DOE sites because we knew what they 

were going through,” Glenda recalls. “Most people thought 

that there’s nothing out there to hurt workers, these workers 

are getting sick and things are happening to them for other 

reasons, it’s not what they’re getting exposed to on the job. 

And Charles and I both knew that that wasn’t true.” 

In ten years working for BTMed Glenda has interviewed 

hundreds of former SRS workers and heard their stories. 

“This one guy that I interviewed in our office…told me he 

actually put on diving gear and went down in a nuclear 

reactor pool because they had a leak in there, a crack in the 

reactor. And they were going to try to patch the crack. Now 

can you imagine that? And somebody letting him go do that? 

He ended up with thyroid cancer, I don’t know if he’s still 

alive or not.” 

Glenda has since retired from her position with BTMed, 

but her husband still works there, signing up as many former 

DOE construction workers as he can to get their health 

checked out. Workers are eligible for free checkups every 

three years, in order to catch an illness that might not show 

symptoms on the first exam. If you or someone you know 

worked construction at Savannah River or another DOE 

site across the country, visit www.btmed.org or call 1-800- 

866-9663 for more information. “[Those are] very dangerous 

place[s] to work,” Glenda warns. “And if you don’t know what 

you’re getting yourself into, you better be careful.” 

[left] Glenda Jernigan, one of the first female crane operators at 

the Savannah River DOE Site, sitting at the controls of her crane. 

[below] Map detailing DOE sites where former workers are eligible 

for free medical screenings through the BTMed program. 

[article] Building Trades National Medical Screening Program 

8 



Politics & Legislation 

Legislation Would Eliminate Workers’ Rights on Tribal Lands 

LEGISLATION IS MOVING in 

Congress that would strip hundreds of 

thousands of American workers of their 

fundamental workplace rights in tribalowned 

businesses on Native American 

lands. The legislation is focused on the 

tribal gaming industry – a $28 billion 

enterprise in the United States – but 

would extend to every other operation 

of the tribe, too. Operating Engineers 

are employed at many of these facilities 

at locations all over the United States, 

from Connecticut to California. 

The bill changes current law 

by exempting the National Labor 

Relations Act (NLRA) from tribal 

enterprises on tribal lands. Tribal 

enterprises include mining operations, 

ski resorts, commercial farms, golf 

courses, sawmills, construction firms, 

restaurant and entertainment facilities 

and other businesses. There is currently 

no definition of “tribal enterprise” 

anywhere else in law. 

In a letter to Congress, IUOE Local 

953 Business Agent and enrolled 

member of the Navajo Nation Clayton 

Benally stated that, “Employees of 

tribal operations should not have 

their right to form unions and bargain 

collectively taken away.” 

“I find it unacceptable,” Benally 

continued, “that our elected leaders 

in Washington would attempt to take 

away our rights to bargain collectively 

for the betterment of ourselves and our 

families as Americans, even our rights 

as Native Americans on our own Tribal 

lands.” 

This bill is a poorly disguised 

attack on workers’ rights. Passage 

of this bill would strip employees of 

tribal enterprises of their right to form 

unions and bargain collectively. Close 

to 700,000 people work at Indian 

gaming facilities across the country. 

About 600,000 of them are not Native 

American. 

The Tribes say that they want to 

be treated like state governments and 

[photo] Slot Technicians and other Operating Engineer jobs at tribal gaming facilities 

nationwide are under threat of losing their federal labor protections. 

that it is a matter of sovereignty. But 

states don’t operate a $28 billion dollar 

gaming industry with 700,000 workers. 

At a June congressional hearing, 

Richard Guest, the staff attorney for the 

Native American Rights Fund, publicly 

stated that the reason his organization 

supports this bill is because it will keep 

unions off of reservations. Another 

tribal witness said that they want to 

deny workers the right to strike. 

Make no mistake, this legislation is 

a business proposition for the Tribes. 

They are wielding their political 

power in an attempt to squash the 

fundamental rights of their employees. 

According to the National Indian 

Gaming Commission, Indian gaming 

generated $28 billion in revenue in fiscal 

year 2013 and operated 449 gaming 

facilities. Indian gaming enterprises 

also collectively paid 250 lobbyists over 

$24 million to lobby Congress in 2014 

and they contributed over $14 million 

in the 2014 election cycle to federal 

candidates and committees, according 

to the Center for Responsive Politics. 

Native American Tribes should not 

get to pick and choose what federal laws 

and regulations they will obey when 

they engage in commercial activity with 

people and business organizations 

from outside their reservations. This is 

not an issue of tribal sovereignty; it’s an 

issue of workers’ rights. 

The legislation has already passed 

through the Senate Indian Affairs 

Committee, with some Democratic 

support. It is currently being considered 

in the House committee. 

Saving the Highway Fund and Jobs Comes Down to the Wire 

THE CURRENT HIGHWAY BILL was 

due to expire at the end of July. As 

this magazine went to press, separate 

and competing bills in the House 

and Senate were being considered to 

extend the program. The question is 

over how long to extend it. 

Over the past several years, Congress 

has been passing short-term extension 

after short-term extension. Their 

failure to pass a long-term bill has cost 

thousands of Operating Engineers jobs. 

The IUOE supports a long-term, fully 

funded program. Congress must come 

up with about $15 billion every year for 

the program. Unfortunately, neither 

Democrats nor Republicans have had 

the will to fund this critical program. 

Without a fully funded, long-term 

highway bill, the United States will 

never be able to repair and rebuild our 

crumbling infrastructure. 

According to the 2013 report by the 

American Society of Civil Engineers 

(ASCE): 

• 32% of America’s major roads are 

in poor or mediocre condition 

• 42% of America’s major urban 

highways are congested 

• 1 in 9 of the nation’s bridges are 

rated as structurally deficient 

• 45% of Americans lack access to 

public transit 

• The U.S is ranked 16th in the 

world in terms of our overall 

infrastructure quality 

The Operating Engineers are not alone 

in advocating for a fully funded, longterm 

highway bill. Many organizations 

and industry groups that span the 

political spectrum have been pleading 

with Congress for years to work 

together and get this done. 

Stay up-to-date on how Congress 

decides to address this critical issue by 

visiting: www.iuoe.org 

EnginEErs Action rEsponsE nEtwork 

Because elections matter 

Make your voice heard • Register for EARN today 

www.iuoe.org 

10 



Local Spotlight 

Longevity Has Its Place—In the Operating Engineers 

“WE ARE THE HEART and soul of these buildings,” says 

Nicholas D’Elia. “These high-rise buildings cannot operate 

without us.” 

D’Elia, 55, chief engineer in the Colgate-Palmolive 

Building at 300 Park Ave., has worked there for 35 years. On 

June 10, he was one more than 300 members of Local 94 of 

the International Union of Operating Engineers honored 

for having more than 25 years of service. Modesto Diaz 

topped the list, with 50 years; Philip Knollmueller and 

Raymond Lopez had 45 years; and a dozen more had 40. The 

6,000-member union represents the workers who keep the 

city’s office buildings going: running the heat, ventilation, 

and air-conditioning systems; being in charge of fire safety; 

maintaining and repairing motors and pumps; and doing 

plumbing, rigging, and anything else needed. 

The union also held a moment of silence to remember 

James Coffey, an 85-year-old retiree who’d suffered a fatal 

heart attack the day before after teaching a class. “He died 

the way he wanted, being a member of Local 94 and training 

members to the bitter end,” Local 94 President Kuba Brown 

said. 

Originally, D’Elia wanted to be a firefighter, he says, but 

he needed a job, and a friend of his father’s who worked at 

300 Park Ave. told him about an opening there. He had taken 

a trade-school course in refrigeration and HVAC, and gotten 

the refrigeration license needed to qualify—“to show you can 

operate equipment without blowing things up,” he jokes.” 

12 

“I was taught early on to learn a trade,” he says. 

Al Constantine, a 54-year-old Syrian immigrant honored 

for 25 years in the union, also came to the job via trade 

school. Augie Repetto, 65, is about to retire after 40 years. A 

transit police officer laid off in the city’s 1975 fiscal crisis, he 

heard about an opening through his father, who was also in 

the union. 

“This is a family atmosphere,” says Kuba Brown. “We’re 

predominantly a father-son union, but we’re open to all 

creeds and colors.” 

The biggest change they’ve seen in their decades on the 

job has been the changeover to computerized systems in 

the late 1990s. With the automated BMS system, you can see 

“all the vital signs of the building,” says D’Elia, such as the 

temperature on each floor. But contrary to what one executive 

asked, that doesn’t make operating engineers obsolete. “You 

still have to make a repair. It doesn’t change that,” he says. 

In fact, the universal use of computers in offices creates 

more work, as they have to be kept cool at all times. An airconditioning 

failure that would be a sweaty inconvenience to 

humans might mean a data-crashing disaster for servers. 


“There’s no real downtime any more,” D’Elia says. “You’re 

doing a lot with less.” To run a 29-story building with a fiveman 

crew, “everybody fires on all cylinders.” 

“Now it’s gotten a little more of a corporate environment,” 

says Repetto. Operating engineers are also more energyconscious, 

he adds. “We were conscious back then, but in 

today’s world, it’s a lot more amplified.” 

The union provided training for workers to learn the 

new technology, which Constantine praises as “giving 

opportunity.” For “the older guys like me” who hadn’t 

been exposed to computers, says D’Elia, “it was a home 

run.” In 1980, he says, all you needed to get on the job was 

a refrigeration license. Now, he has 14 Fire Department 

licenses, including certifications for fuel handling, battery 

systems, sprinklers, and being a fire safety director. 

Fire safety is a major part of the job, he adds. “When the 

Fire Department shows up at your building, they want to see 

the operating engineers, because they know these buildings,” 

he says. “We are the first responders.” Operating engineers 

also run evacuation drills. 

“I take a lot of pride in what I do,” D’Elia says. “I’m a proud 

union member. Even to this day, I’m still learning. And time 

went by like I started yesterday.” 

“This union and this business afforded me and my family 

a home, vacations, dance lessons, music lessons,” says 

Repetto, who has three children and eight grandchildren, 

with his son also in Local 94. “We had a lot of laughs, did a lot 

of hard work, learned a lot,” he reflects. What he would like 

to see carried on is “an old-fashioned work ethic—don’t be 

afraid to use your hands.” 

[article] by Steve Wishnia, National News Reporter, Labor Press 

www.laborpress.org 

[photo] Local 94 

Were you there? 

Learn More. 

Call 1-888-982-4748 or visit www.cdc.gov/wtc 

You haven’t forgotten 

9/11 

Neither have we 

World Trade Center | Pentagon | Shanksville, PA 

Providers in the New York City area, and across the country, monitor and treat conditions related 

to the September 11th terrorist attacks – like asthma, heartburn, certain cancers, depression, and 

PTSD. These providers treat responders and volunteers who participated in rescue, recovery, or 

clean-up on or after 9/11, as well as those in the WTC dust cloud or who lived, worked, or went to 

school or daycare in lower Manhattan south of Houston or into parts of Brooklyn. 

Images depict general types of individuals who may be eligible for the World Trade Center Health Program and not actual members. 

WTC Health Program 


HAZMAT 

Confined Space in Construction Rule Released by OSHA 

Member Spotlight 

Pipeliner Finds Balance in Economic and Environmental Needs 

IT’S TAKEN MORE than 20 years, but the Occupational 

Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has issued a final 

rule to protect workers in confined spaces. OSHA says that 

implementing it could prevent the deaths and injuries of 

almost 800 construction workers a year. 

The rule, unveiled May 4 and scheduled to take effect on 

August 3, is designed to end worker exposure to hazards in 

confined spaces – spaces where there’s only one way in and 

it’s tough to get out, such as manholes, crawl spaces and 

tanks. 

They are also difficult to exit in an emergency. People 

working in confined spaces face life-threatening hazards 

including toxic substances, electrocutions, explosions and 

asphyxiation. 

The rule will provide construction workers with 

protections similar to those that manufacturing and general 

industry workers have had for more than two decades, with 

some differences tailored to the construction industry. Some 

provisions in the new rule include: 

1. More detailed provisions regarding coordinated 

activities when there are multiple employers at 

the worksite; requirements to ensure that multiple 

employers share vital safety information. 

2. Requiring a competent person to evaluate the work 

site and identify confined spaces, including permit 

spaces. 

3. Requiring continuous atmospheric monitoring 

whenever possible. 

4. Requiring continuous monitoring of engulfment 

hazards. 

5. Allowing for the suspension of a permit, instead of 

cancellation, in the event of changes from the entry 

conditions list on the permit or an unexpected event 

requiring evacuation of the space. 

The rule emphasizes training, continuous worksite 

evaluation and communication requirements to further 

protect workers’ safety and health. 

Construction sites are continually evolving, with the 

number and characteristics of confined spaces changing 

as work progresses. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez 

stated that the new rule will significantly improve the safety 

of construction workers who enter confined spaced. It is 

estimated that it will prevent about 780 serious injuries every 

year. 

To access the new Confined Spaces in Construction rule or 

Frequently Asked Questions visit OSHA’s website at https:// 

www.osha.gov/confinedspaces/index.html or contact the 

National HAZMAT Program at 304-253-8674 or hazmat@ 

iuoehazmat.org for more information. 

Respiratory Protection 

Course a Success 

THE OSHA 2225 Respiratory Protection Course was held 

at the IUOE NTF National HAZMAT Program in Beckley, WV 

in April. A total of 22 local union instructors from 14 locals 

and four Job Corps sites attended this competency building 

trainer course. 

This four-day course covered the OSHA 29 CFR 1910.134 

Respiratory Protection standard, OSHA’s “The Small Entity 

Compliance Guide for the Respiratory Protection Standard” 

publication, and NIOSH’s Testing/Technical Considerations, 

and Selection Requirements. 

There was an overview of the different respirators and 

when they should be used, and Qualitative and Quantitative 

Fit Testing was covered with group participation. The course 

included two days of classroom instruction and two days 

of extensive hands-on activities with various respiratory 

protection equipment, including donning and doffing. 

The greatest result of this trainer course was the local 

union instructors gaining confidence and knowledge to 

be able to comfortably teach respiratory protection to the 

members of their local. 

This story originally ran in Postmedia Works and was sponsored by the 

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers. 

GROWING UP IN River Valley, Ont., a village of 400 well 

off the main route between North Bay and Sudbury, his father 

would take him hunting, fishing and trapping. He bagged his 

first bear at 14, and his first moose at 16. 

Giroux, an operating engineer by trade, learned the ways 

of the forest and the animals who live there from his dad. The 

rolling hills, towering trees, still lakes and gurgling streams of 

the wild country here are in his blood, part of his DNA. 

He would eventually inherit his father’s trapline, and 

today he takes his own children camping, fishing and 

hunting in the abundant wilderness surrounding these bluecollar 

industrial towns seemingly perched on the edge of 

civilization. 

Like his own father, too, Giroux made a career primarily as 

an oiler, a crane operator and heavy-equipment operator, at 

times working the very lands where he was raised. 

“Our work is stressful,” Giroux, 41, says, comparing his 

career with his lifestyle. “But when you’re in the forest… the 

telephone doesn’t work, or you leave it behind. You’re at 

peace, listening to the birds and the wind in the trees. 

After a job, Giroux and his co-workers would always 

clean up, returning the environment to its natural state as 

the law requires. Better, he says. He is certified in pipeline 

construction and associated environmental requirements. 

Giroux helped lay existing gas pipelines from Huntsville, 

Ont., all the way to Winnipeg. It was seasonal work, from 

May-June until October-November, then again in January 

through the winter months until spring breakup. 

Now he’s business representative for the International 

Union of Operating Engineers, Local 793 – his father’s still a 

member, retired – and he’s a rep on existing gas pipelines. 

Work has slowed in recent times, but there is a new 

opportunity on the horizon with the October 2014 application 

by TransCanada to build a 4,600-kilometre pipeline starting 

in Alberta. The Energy East Pipeline would transport about 

1.1 million barrels of crude oil per day to refineries and ports 

in Eastern Canada. 

Its development, construction and operation promise 

to create thousands of jobs and abundant economic 

opportunities along the way. 

Proponents say it will also generate billions of dollars 

in tax revenues for municipalities and provinces as well as 

reduce dependence on imported crude. 

Critics have expressed concern for the project’s 

environmental implications, particularly North Bay’s 

watershed. 

Giroux, whose uncommon perspective straddles 

both sides of the debate, contends the project is not only 

economically advantageous to the country – and almost half 

his union’s 13,000 Ontario members, in particular – but he 

says it’s environmentally sound, as well. 

“I don’t blame some people who worry ‘what if there 

would be a leak; what would happen with crude oil?’” he says. 

But he says TransCanada plans to use many existing 

right-of-ways, limiting environmental disturbance during 

construction, erecting barriers around the buried pipe and 

at least quadrupling the number of safety valves in especially 

sensitive areas. 

“This is the best way to protect the resources that we have.” 

Those resources – environmental resources – are more 

a part of him than any job. They’re part of the reason he 

joined a pro-industry campaign – Raise Your Hand Canada, 

sponsored by the Canadian Association of Petroleum 

Producers. 

The campaign aims to inform the public about the 

importance of oil and gas to the economy and addresses 

some of the issues confronting the industry. It includes 

television and print advertising. 

Giroux appears in one of the ads, raising his hand. “I work 

for my sport, which is hunting and fishing,” says Giroux. 

Find out more about the Raise Your Hand campaign by 

visiting raiseyourhandcanada.ca 

[above] When not working, Local 793 member Eric Giroux is an 

avid outdoorsman and hunter. 

[article] by Stephen Thorne 

[photo] Stephen Thorne, Postmedia Works 

14 INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER 

SPRING 2015 15

Feature 

‘Combat 2 Construction’ 

Union and contractors guiding veterans into the employment ranks 

Chad Lovelace practices on a scraper at Local 139’s training center. 

He is among an initial group of veterans who were fast-tracked into 

an Operating Engineers’ 

apprenticeship through the 

new Combat 2 Construction 

program. 

OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 139 is deploying 

military veterans to the front – the front of the employment 

line. 

In May, a screening committee meeting at the Joseph 

J. Goetz Jr. Training Center selected 10 veterans to fill the 

ranks of the first class in the union’s Combat 2 Construction 

program. 

C2C delivers a fast-track assessment of a vet’s heavy 

equipment operating skills. The initiative also provides a 

two-week training course for vets to learn in the classroom 

and practice on heavy equipment at the training center 

in Coloma. Most importantly, C2C puts vets in touch with 

contractors who are looking to hire apprentices, said Local 

139 Vice President/Training Director Dan Sperberg. 

Vets can be placed with a contractor immediately if they 

pass an initial equipment operator skills test. Subsequent, 

in-seat training is customized to match the skill needs of their 

contractor/ employer. 

C2C furthermore has 

vets obtaining a commercial 

driver’s license and/or 

certifications, such as that 

issued by the Mining Safety 

and Health Administration, 

on an as-needed basis. All 

such steps are designed to 

make a veteran an employable 

Operating Engineer. 

C2C is an improvement 

on Helmets to Hardhats, a 

traditional pathway for vets to 

enter the construction field, 

Sperberg said. It does not 

replace that program. 

Woody Wickersheim, 

training center site coordinator, 

said Helmets to Hardhats will 

not be abandoned. “We can 

continue to evaluate veterans 

through Helmets to Hardhats 

and tell contractors what skills 

the veterans in that program 

need to work on,” he said. 

C2C reduces unemployment among vets while helping 

contractors find qualified workers and giving tax credits 

for hiring those who served their country. In addition, the 

program represents a potentially deep well from which 

Local 139 can draw new members. Almost 500 people 

in Wisconsin are released from their military service 

obligation each month, whether from active duty, reservist 

status, or other designation, said Darrel Cappetta, of the 

Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development, Bureau 

of Apprenticeship Standards. 

A veteran may continue to serve their country, such as 

in a reservist unit, while working full-time as an apprentice 

Operating Engineer. 

Cappetta estimates that 40 percent of the 500 vets adding 

to the state’s monthly unemployment rolls have some 

background in construction. Overall, approximately 14,000 

veterans in the state are looking for work, he said. 

A US Navy veteran who served in the Gulf War, Cappetta 

is the statewide point person for recruiting veterans to C2C. 

The virtually free career training available through 

the program makes it particularly appealing to veterans, 

Cappetta said. “The comment I get from veterans is typically, 

‘I don’t have extra money to go to school,’ ” he said. 

Cappetta predicted that veterans enrolled in C2C 

will experience a high placement rate with contractors, 

perhaps as much as 90 percent because, “They have 

the minimum requirements to join the (union) hall.” 

Local 139 President/Business Manager Terry McGowan 

said the union is well suited to assist veterans, especially 

through its training center. 

“We see these unfortunate stories all too often, of 

veterans leaving the military and struggling to build new 

lives as civilians,” McGowan said. “We have an infrastructure 

at the school, curriculum in place, and a placement process 

already functioning. And this is what we’ll build the C2C 

program on.” 

Dana Elmhorst, 30, Stevens Point, is an Army veteran 

who served in Iraq and is a member of the first C2C class. He 

carried designation, “12 N” while on active duty. That made 

him a horizontal construction engineer; essentially a heavy 

equipment Operator who 

builds roads. 

“I like working toward a 

goal, say (building) a mile of 

road a day,” Elmhorst said 

during his May 7 interview 

before the C2C screening 

committee. “I like seeing the 

finished product, like running 

a grader and seeing what 

you’ve done behind you. 

“I’m a very detail-oriented 

person, very technical. 

When I’m running a piece of 

equipment I want to know all I 

can about the machine.” 

Elmhorst, who recently 

attended University of 

Wisconsin-Stevens Point, grew 

up on a farm near Neillsville. 

His resume included operating 

his father’s earth-moving 

equipment. 

He continues to serve in 

the Army Reserves and the 312th Engineer Company. His 

detachment is based in Hurley. 

Elmhorst told the C2C interview committee he would go 

to part-time status as a student upon becoming an apprentice 

Operating Engineer. So future employers are aware of his 

situation, Elmhorst noted that he must serve two weeks each 

year to fulfill an on-going military training commitment. 

The interview committee included two management 

representatives: Karl Goetzke, general superintendent, 

Edgerton Contractors Inc., and Mark Zuber, grading & milling 

superintendent, Payne & Dolan Inc. 

Contractors that participate in the program are eligible 

for a minimum tax credits through the State of Wisconsin of 

$2,200 annually for each veteran hired and a maximum of 

$9,800 over three years. Employers also can qualify for onthe-job 

training assistance from the state of $3,000 for each 

veteran they employ. 

Veterans who fail the initial equipment operator skills test 

are permitted to practice on their own and retest. 

[article and photos] Dave Backmann, IUOE Local 139 

Returning veteran Chris Hyatt logs some seat 

time in a grader at Local 139’s training center. 

16 



Canadian News 

Latest Blow to Labour by Harper Conservatives Comes as 

Federal Election Looms 

[above] Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government 

have found many ways to undercut the labour movement during their years in power, 

culminating with passage of Bill C-377 in July. 

PASSING A VICIOUS anti-union 

law was the Harper Conservative 

Government’s very final act only 

minutes before rising Parliament for 

its summer break and the imminent 

autumn election. 

Despite Conservative majorities in 

both the House of Commons and the 

Senate, bill C-377 had a bumpy ride 

before finally becoming the law of the 

land only a few days after Canada Day. 

Conservatives had to use every 

legislative trick in their book to ram this 

bill through, including an 11th hour rewrite 

of parliamentary rules. All Liberal 

and a few Conservative Senators fought 

fiercely against the bill but to no avail. 

In 2013 a group of Conservatives 

Senators (who have since retired) 

along with Liberal Senators succeeded 

in gutting C-377 through significant 

amendments; everyone thought the 

bill was dead. But a procedural quirk of 

the Canadian parliament brought back 

the bill--“like a zombie,” at least one 

senator commented--just in time to be 

finally passed moments before the end 

of this parliamentary session. 

Universally loathed by the 

labour movement, the bill is widely 

condemned by both progressive and 

conservative voices. C-377 has been 

called unconstitutional, technically 

incompetent, and a vindictive attack on 

unions. 

This new federal law comes into 

effect for the 2016 tax year and will 

require labour organizations to report 

all financial transactions over $5,000. 

These reports will provide the Canada 

Revenue Agency (CRA - analogous to 

the American IRS) with the amount of 

all transactions along with names and 

addresses of the payer and payee. All of 

this information will then be published 

on the CRA’s website where the public 

will be able to search and scrutinize 

all of the data in granular detail. This 

information will be exhaustive and 

include everything from contracts paid 

to hire snow shovellers to sensitive 

private information like health benefits 

paid to union members. 

The new law will also require 

everyone caught up by it to report their 

“labour activities,” “non-labour related 

activities,” and their “political activities.” 

Not only will union members and union 

employees have to account for these 

hours, but so too will the independent 

contractor who maintains IUOE’s 

photocopiers, for instance. 

What business is it of the government 

or any outside group to know how much 

time you spend outside of work on 

political activities? It’s ridiculous, and 

clearly infringes on Canadians’ privacy 

and constitutional rights. 

The bill’s proponents say it will bring 

transparency and accountability to 

unions. But C-377 goes much further 

than this. Besides, unions in Canada are 

already transparent and accountable to 

their members because it is required 

of them by current provincial and 

territorial laws. 

Proponents of C-377 argue that 

because union dues are tax deductible, 

unions’ finances should be publicly 

scrutinized. But this is a phoney 

argument. For their part, corporations 

receive tremendous direct tax benefits 

but are not required to report this kind 

of information to the government, the 

public, and their competitors. This bill 

is a thinly-veiled attack on labour. 

Opposition to this law is strong, 

cutting across a wide swath of Canadian 

society. 

The two main political opponents 

to the Harper Conservatives in the next 

election, the NDP and the Liberals, have 

promised that if elected in October, 

they will reverse C-377. But failing a 

change in government, C-377 will be 

challenged all the way to the Supreme 

Court of Canada where it is certain to be 

ruled unconstitutional and thrown out. 

Beyond traditional labour groups, 

many have lined up against C-377. 

Seven provinces, representing more 

than 80% of the Canadian population, 

have publicly stated their opposition to 

this bill and intentions to challenge its 

legality. 

The legislation’s broad vague 

definition of “labour organization” 

has even ensnared professional 

associations, like those representing 

Canadian doctors, lawyers, and NHL 

hockey players, who have spoken out 

against this bill. 

Even the Canadian financial 

sector has voiced serious concerns, as 

provisions in the bill will require “labour 

trusts” to similarly odious reporting 

requirements. 

C-377 has becoming a new rallying 

point for Labour and our allies. This bill 

was the Conservatives’ last legislative 

action before the election, they cannot 

be allowed to return to Government 

and pick up their attack on the good 

hard working people of Canada. It is 

time for a change in Government, time 

for us to have a government which has 

our backs and lets us get on with the 

work of taking care of our members. 

The Labour Record 

Harper Conservative Government 

While in power, the Harper Conservatives have been busy 

undercutting the labour movement. 

PASSED: Bill C-377 – an unconstitutional attack on unions, it 

weakens our negotiating abilities while violating the privacy of 

millions of Canadians. 

PASSED: Bill C-525 – a Conservative attempt to destabilize labour 

relations that was opposed by both employers and unions, it 

weakens the ability of unions to organize new members. 

PASSED: Bill C-51 – allows CSIS to contravene the Charter of Rights 

and Freedoms and other laws. By expanding the definition of a 

“national security threat,” the Conservative government can now 

target unions and labour activists. Strikes, work-stoppages, and 

nonviolent protest could all be construed as threats, labour activists 

arrested and labour organizations legally spied upon. 

What is next on the Conservative’s agenda if they are returned to 

power? 

Right-to-Work: If the Conservatives continue in government after 

the next election, they will likely bring in so-called Right-to-Work 

laws. Championed by U.S. corporate interests, these laws severely 

limit labour unions’ collective bargaining and lead to wage losses 

across all sectors. 

It is time 

for a 

change. 

VOTE 

OCTOBER 

19 

18 



IUOE Member, Family Members 

Awarded Union Plus Scholarships 

Winners Honored for Achievement and Union Values 

Union Plus recently awarded $150,000 in scholarships to 

106 students representing 36 unions, including 10 winners 

representing the International Union of Operating Engineers, 

in the 2015 Union Plus Scholarship Program. 

In this 24th year of the program, more than 5,000 applications 

were received from union members, their spouses and their 

dependent children in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. 

Virgin Islands. 

Union Plus Scholarship awards are granted to students 

attending a two-year college, four-year college, graduate 

school or a recognized technical or trade school. 

Since starting the program in 1991, Union Plus has awarded 

more than $3.7 million in educational funding to more than 

2,500 union members, spouses and dependent children. 

Recipients are selected based on academic ability, social 

awareness, financial need and appreciation of labor. 

Visit UnionPlus.org/Education for applications and benefit 

eligibility. 

Meet the 2015 IUOE Honorees 

IUOE Local 324—Alozie Asika 

Alozie, who is a member of IUOE Local 324, has been awarded 

a $500 scholarship. Alozie is a nursing major at Jackson 

Community College. A nontraditional 

student, he graduated 

from Federal Government High 

School in Port Harcourt, Nigeria, 

in 1986. After being let go from his 

banking job in 2010, Alozie chose 

to pursue a new career in nursing. 

“My attraction to nursing stems 

from the fact that I will be able to 

give back to society and make a 

difference in the lives of people in 

my immediate community and the world in general,” Alozie 

said. He currently works as a certified nursing assistant and 

said his union membership provides a sense of protection 

and security for himself and his family. 

IUOE Local 513—Alexandria Berghaus 

Alexandria, whose father, Timothy Berghaus, is a member 

of IUOE Local 513, has been awarded a $4,000 scholarship. 

Alexandria is a plant sciences 

major at the University of Missouri. 

After her expected graduation date 

of May 2016, she hopes to pursue 

a master’s in plant genetics. She 

worked as a farmhand in high 

school to help pay for her own 

college education; her goal is to 

graduate without student loans, 

and she plans to pursue a paid internship this summer. 

Alexandria said health care has been a critical union benefit 

to her family, particularly when her mother was diagnosed 

with breast cancer. “Without the insurance coverage the 

union provides, it would have been nearly impossible for us 

to make it through that difficult time,” she said. 

IUOE Local 520—Lainey Brown 

Lainey, whose mother, Katherine Brown, is a member of 

IUOE Local 520, has been awarded a $500 scholarship. Lainey 

is a 2015 high school graduate who 

plans to begin pursuing a nursing 

degree at Southwestern Illinois 

College in the fall. Lainey said her 

connection with the union started 

with her birth date, when her 

mother went into labor during a 

Labor Day union parade. She said 

she and her mother might not be 

where they are today without the 

union and the labor movement. “I 

am eternally grateful for the work she has been given and the 

woman the union has made her … strong and hardworking,” 

Lainey said. 

IUOE Local 399—Sarah Dynia 

Sarah, whose mother, Laura Dynia, is a member of IUOE 

Local 399, has been awarded a $4,000 scholarship. Sarah is 

a 2015 high school graduate who plans to study biology and 

pursue a career as a scientist or medical doctor. She is founder 

and CEO of Stuffed Love, a volunteer-staffed program that 

provides hand-stitched pillows 

through a variety of nonprofits to 

those in need of encouragement. 

By completing 10 AP classes in high 

school, Sarah earned college credit 

that helped defray her college 

costs. She said her mother’s union 

membership has greatly helped 

her family, in particular with wages 

that have made it possible for Sarah 

to attend the private schools that 

have shaped her socially, academically and spiritually. 

IUOE Local 49—Rien Groskopf 

Rien, whose father, Brian Groskopf, is a member of IUOE 

Local 49, has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Rien is a 

pre-medicine major at the University of Wisconsin-Barron 

County who expects to graduate in May 2018. She aspires 

to be an orthopedic surgeon or a physical therapist; having 

broken her foot twice in the course of her athletic career, she 

hopes to focus on sports medicine to help people lead full and 

active lives. Rien was valedictorian of her high school class in 

2014. She said she has seen the benefits of her father’s union 

membership, specifically access to good health insurance, 

as well as consistent and fair wages that have led to a better 

quality of life for her family. “Knowing that he is supported by 

his union for what he has given them all these years makes a 

person feel good inside,” Rien said. 

IUOE Local 18—Hannah Jarvis 

Hannah, whose father, Richard Jarvis, is a member of IUOE 

Local 18, has been awarded a $2,000 scholarship. Hannah 

is a 2015 high school graduate who plans to study animal 

sciences and agricultural communication at The Ohio State 

University. Hannah said she appreciates her father’s union for 

providing quality benefits and a safe working environment. 

“Now that I am older, I understand the union’s importance 

and valuable role in making sure that my father returned 

home safe and sound every day,” she said. “I know that my 

father and thousands of other people are being kept in safe 

working conditions.” 

IUOE Local 501— 

Samantha Schroff 

Samantha, whose father, Robert 

Schroff, is a member of IUOE Local 

501, has been awarded a $1,000 

scholarship. Samantha, whose 

grandfather also was an IUOE 

member, is a 2015 high school 

graduate who plans to pursue a 

business degree. Samantha works 

as an administrative assistant for a property management 

company; she says she wants to be an agent for change in 

her community and aspires to “advocate for lower-income 

groups to promote good corporate stewardship and public- 

private partnerships.” When she was 10, Samantha’s father 

suffered a nearly fatal descending thoracic-aortic aneurysm 

that required him to be airlifted to Houston. “My dad’s union 

membership literally saved his life,” Samantha said. “My mom 

is convinced that without my dad’s excellent health benefits 

through the union, he would be paralyzed and possibly dead, 

and that my family would have faced financial ruin.” 

IUOE Local 101—Halie Steward 

Halie, whose father, Elroy Steward, is a member of IUOE Local 

101, has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Halie is a nursing 

student at the University of Central 

Missouri who expects to complete 

her degree in May 2016. While she 

plans to immediately enter the 

nursing field, possibly by serving 

with the U.S. military, she aspires 

to eventually complete a doctorate 

in nursing and become a nurse 

practitioner. Halie sees her father’s 

ability to be heavily involved in her 

life and support her as a byproduct 

of favorable work conditions 

provided through his union membership. “He has taught me 

so much, including the value of hard work, being honest and 

caring, and to appreciate the blessings in our lives,” she said. 

IUOE Local 324—Spenser Warren 

Spenser, whose father, Milo Warren, is a member of IUOE 

Local 324, has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Spenser 

is an international relations and 

Russian/Russian studies major at 

Michigan State University with an 

expected graduation date of May 

2017. He intends to pursue a career 

in diplomacy and/or intelligence 

with a focus on national security 

and international democratization. 

Both of his parents are union 

members (mother, Julie Warren, 

UAW Local 6000). Spenser said that 

without the efforts of the unions, one or both of his parents 

would have lost their jobs while he was in school. “Had this 

happened, I would most likely not be in college today, at least 

not at Michigan State University,” he said. 

IUOE Local 39—EveAngela Ashley Williams 

Ashley, whose father, Richard Williams, is a member of IUOE 

Local 39, has been awarded a $500 scholarship. Ashley is a 

nursing student at San Joaquin Delta State College in Stockton, 

Calif., with an anticipated graduation date of May 2018. After 

completion of her associate degree, Ashley hopes to pursue 

a bachelor’s degree in nutrition. Ashley said her father’s 

union membership has provided her family with stability and 

resources they would not otherwise have enjoyed. “Unions 

have put much effort and bargaining into improving rights 

and wages for workers,” she said. 

20 INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER SUMMER 2015 21

In Memorium 

Death benefits paid 

May, 2015 - June, 2015 

May 2015 

Local 003 

Alameda, CA 

Tsuyosh I. Abe 

Victor G. Baker 

Jack C. Barba 

Paul Dunn 

Edward J. Heilman 

Myrl Moxley 

Seichi Shishido 

Local 004 

Medway, MA 

Robert J. Okeefe 

Local 009 

Denver, CO 

Warren B. Neal 

Local 012 

Pasadena, CA 

Victor Anaya 

Kenneth Atwell 

John Birdwell, jr 

Robert Cadwallader 

Jose Corella 

Richard Cuevas 

Bruce Eaton 

Enos Guill 

Charlie Henderson 

Jerry Hewitt 

William Hofman 

Cruz Longoria 

Lawrence Matthews 

Kenneth R. 

Mcgee 

Clarence Redelsperger 

Hilliard Rowe 

Dominick Scanlon 

Glenn Schuster 

C. Smith 

Lee R. Thomas 

Frank Tucker 

Earl Wackerly 

Curtis Williams 

Isabel Yepez 

Local 014 

Flushing, NY 

Robert W. Daly 

Alonzo J. Howell 

Sidney Miller 

Angelo A. Palladino 

Local 015 

Long Island city, 

NY 

Richard Bernardo 

Joseph Bonura 

George N. Hill 

Francisco G. 

Martinez 

Patrick J. Neff 

Thomas Neville 

Local 018 

Cleveland, OH 

Wilbur M. Barnes 

Garey R. Crabtree 

Charles F. Ellis 

William E. Fiddler 

William H. Glander 

Alfred Krueger 

August Mericola 

William F. Patton 

Donald J. Perry 

Kenneth E. Richards 

Carl J. Seifert 

Charles D. Steele 

Sam Thompson 

Local 037 

Baltimore, MD 

Frank W. Dorer 

Local 049 

Minneapolis, MN 

Harvey E. Fairchild 

Joseph Huderle 

Robert H. Rogers 

jr 

Clarence A. Schramel 

Local 066 

Pittsburgh, PA 

Robert L. Hoffman 

Stanley J. Spicher 

Local 068 

West Caldwell, 

NJ 

James Rouse 

Local 101 

Kansas City, MO 

Roger W. Adams 

Virgil Clark 

Robert L. Hill 

Ellis L. Keesee 

Charles E. Mercer 

Raymond R. 

Moore 

John Moran 

Buddy Page 

Local 115 

Burnaby, BC 

Richard G. Robison 

Local 139 

Pewaukee, WI 

Richard F. Bean 

James E. Coughlin 

Leonard Hofmann 

Martin Inda 

Lawrence A. 

Koepp 

Willis Lande 

Cornelius Norgaren 

Donald Sayotovich 

Marvin J. 

Schmidt 

Walter L. Scholl 

Local 148 

Saint Louis, MO 

Bernard W. Riney 

Local 150 

Countryside, IL 

Wm A. Cain 

Robert G. 

Charleston 

Peter Delair 

Alva Farmer 

John W. Huppenthal 

Richard O. Landis 

William S. Martin 

Cornelius W. 

Mcqueen 

Donald B. Mickelsen 

Lewis W. Reeder 

William E. Sharp 

Dwight M. Shaw 

Martin J. 

Trampke 

John I. Williams 

Local 158 

Glenmont, NY 

R .Byrne 

George C. Pine 

Norman J. Simmons 

Local 181 

Henderson, KY 

Burl E. Billington 

Ulis O. Buford 

Jimmy Campbell 

Paul B. Mc bride 

Ernest E. Murphy 

Local 216 

Baton Rouge, LA 

Maurice J. Pecquet 

Local 234 

Des Moines, IA 

Richard L. Smithart 

Local 286 

Auburn, WA 

Harold P. Culbertson 

Harry W. Desoto 

Local 302 

Bothell, WA 

William A. Curtis 

Robert G. Curtis 

Robert E. Edwards 

James A. Hasson 

William A. 

Ohman 

Local 305 

South Range, WI 

Sidney J. Palm 

Local 310 

Green Bay, WI 

Lloyd L. Drossart 

Woodrow Ek 

Local 324 

Bloomfield 

Township, MI 

John R. Crain 

Richard Golden 

James A. Monroe 

Richard Oldenkamp 

Eugene E. Parker 

Terrance L. Pride 

Gerald A. Schultz 

John Wozniak 

Local 347 

Dan M. Moore 

Local 370 

Spokane, WA 

Jack T. Cleveland 

Wm L. Oliver 

Local 407 

Lake Charles, LA 

G .W. Myers jr 

Local 428 

Phoenix, AZ 

James M. Hume 

Local 478 

Hamden, CT 

Justin M. Layden 

Alva H. Warner 

Local 513 

Bridgeton, MO 

Phil Erzinger 

Victor A. Herbst 

Carl D. Nordman 

Local 515 

Leo L. Dick 

Local 520 

Granite City, IL 

Howard H. Grah 

Leslie J. Hemken 

Local 542 

Fort Washington, 

PA 

Louis Barnaba 

Joseph Cappelli 

Richard N. Edwards 

Andrew Hawthorne 

Jeryl Hoeppner 

Woodrow A. 

Reaser 

Daniel C. Valerio 

Local 547 

Detroit, MI 

Merle E. Barnes 

Orville Noffke 

Local 627 

Tulsa, OK 

Elwood Goddard 

Local 701 

Gladstone, OR 

Max Middlebusher 

Local 793 

Oakville, ON 

Jan M. Bakker 

Guilio Iacoucci 

Ronald G. Jones 

Local 800 

Bar Nunn, WY 

Gus D. Williams 

Local 832 

Rochester, NY 

Edwin J. Vankirk 

Local 917 

Chattanooga, TN 

Kay White 

Local 926 

Rex, GA 

Lewis D. Weese 

Local 955 

Edmonton, AB 

Ernest J. Arsenault 

Quinten Harris 

June 2015 

Local 003 

Alameda, CA 

Jimmie Allen 

Fred E. Barrick 

George F. Flagel 

Richard Mcmurray 

Local 004 

Medway, MA 

John A. Sena 

Local 009 

Denver, CO 

John Paravecchio 

Local 012 

Pasadena, CA 

J. Barry 

Richard Corbit 

Donald Macisaac 

John Noriega 

Jim Zavas 

Local 014 

Flushing, NY 

Sylvan Mitnick 

Local 015 

Long Island city, 

NY 

Thomas J. Guinto 

John B. Murro 

William J. Novinski 

Local 018 

Cleveland, OH 

Roy A. Cooley 

John E. Frost 

Orville Jackson 

Alva W. Mercer 

John R. Taylor 

Stanley F. Workman 

Local 025 

Millstone Township, 

NJ 

Johnny T. Holden 

Weldon Lane 

Local 030 

Richmond Hill, 

NY 

Wyler O. Michael 

Local 037 

Baltimore, MD 

Robert M. Williams 

Obituary: Fred Dereschuk Championed Workers’ Rights 

FRED DERESCHUK made it his 

business to fight for the working man 

and woman. 

“Fred exemplified what a labor 

leader is meant to be,” said Vincent 

Giblin, former general president of 

the International Union of Operating 

Engineers who served alongside him 

on the international executive board. 

Dereschuk, a longtime business 

manager for the union’s Local 49, 

served as vice president for the national 

organization, which represents 400,000 

members — mostly heavy equipment 

operators — in the United States and 

Canada. 

He was a fiercely independent man 

who fought to ensure fair wages and 

working conditions for his members 

while ensuring he could supply the 

most skilled operators to contractors, 

keeping companies competitive in 

their bids, Giblin said. 

“The organization owes a debt 

to Fred Dereschuk for what he 

accomplished for us,” he said. “He 

certainly made the road a lot easier and 

he certainly gave a lot of blood, sweat 

and tears to this organization.” 

Dereschuk, who retired in 2003, 

died June 12 from kidney failure. He 

was 86. 

“He was a rare commodity — the 

type of labor leader that’s gone forever,” 

Giblin said. 

Dick Ames, chairman of the board 

for Ames Construction, often sat across 

the negotiating table from Dereschuk. 

“We had some terrible arguments at 

the table,” he said, laughing. But the 

two, who knew each other for more 

than 50 years, were also friends. 

“I knew Fred was going to be a 

strong individual,” Ames said. “He 

would be fair but he stuck up for what 

he believed in and that was a fair 

working environment for his members. 

He represented his members as good, 

if not better than anyone else, and I’ve 

been around a long time.” 

He was a simple, strong-willed 

man who could be blunt and forceful, 

and his “word was as good as gold,” 

friends and family said. But always “his 

purpose in life was to help the working 

man,” said his wife, Jan, of Ham Lake. 

A strong work ethic was the fabric 

of his life with lessons first learned 

growing up on the family farm near 

Floodwood, Minn. His father was a 

Ukrainian immigrant who was only 13 

when he worked his way across Europe 

after his family died during a typhoid 

outbreak. After landing at Ellis Island, 

Dereschuk’s father found work in a 

Brooklyn bakery before heading west 

to Minnesota. 

It was there on the farm that Fred 

Dereschuk found his roots as a laborer. 

Off the farm, he found work in the 

woods in northern Minnesota, the 

wheat fields in Montana, and a peas 

and corn packing plant in LeSueur, 

his wife said. Eventually he became a 

heavy equipment operator, working 

road construction that led him from the 

taconite mines in northern Minnesota 

to federal freeway work around the 

region. 

Dereschuk, who joined Local 49 

in the 1950s, eventually became the 

local’s dispatcher, working his way to 

serve as its president and eventually 

business manager. 

“He was the salt of the earth,” Giblin 

said. “He never forgot where he came 

from.” 

“You would never find Fred in a 

$1,000 suit,” he said. “You would find 

him in a $250 suit. That’s who Fred was. 

He didn’t change from the day he wore 

the overalls to the day he put the suit on 

to be their chief executive officer.” 

And he loved the underdog, said his 

son, Bruce, of Alamo, Calif. He “was 

right out of the mold of a classic oldtime 

superhero, a man who needed 

a community to serve and to protect, 

people to save, wrongs to be made 

right.” 

He is also survived by son Lee, of 

Ladera Ranch, Calif.; two daughters, 

Beth Hermansen of Coon Rapids and 

Jill Hawk of Warba, Minn.; and 10 

grandchildren. Services have been 

held. 

[article] By Mary Lynn Smith - Star Tribune 

www.startribune.com 

...Cont’d page 30 

22 INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER SUMMER 2015 23

In Memorium 

Death benefits paid 

May, 2015 - June, 2015 

June 2015 

Local 039 

Sacramento, CA 

Francis J. Chirco 

Local 049 

Minneapolis, MN 

Elmer L. Derosier 

Herman C. Johnson 

Lewis M. Larson 

Clyde G. Oswell 

Gordon B. Rudolph 

William J. Stello 

Paul D. Sylvander 

David Zirk 

Local 066 

Pittsburgh, PA 

Robert A. Dick 

Nick Matijevich 

Wayne E. Pick 

Gino Rosi 

Gilbert K. Sechler 

Local 098 

East Longmeadow, 

MA 

Leeds C. Ackerman 

Maxwell K. Fiske 

jr 

Local 099 

Washington, DC 

John P. Sexton 

Local 103 

Indianapolis, IN 

Forrest Jewell 

Thomas A. Smith 

Kenneth E. 

Stanley 

Local 106 

Glenmont, NY 

L .Chartrand 

Richard Furman 

William Livingston 

Local 115 

Burnaby, BC 

George Gorrie 

Local 123 

Welch, OK 

Darlene Nelson 

Local 138 

Farmingdale, NY 

Edward E. Lewis 

Local 139 

Pewaukee, WI 

Verdon Frank 

Local 148 

Saint Louis, MO 

James F. Connell 

Willard C. 

Meinkoth 

Local 150 

Countryside, IL 

Donald E. Davis 

Robert Defrancesco 

George W. Everitt 

Gerald E. Jones 

Dominic Leone 

Alfred W. Perrin 

Louis J. Stark 

Ceasar Taylor 

Local 234 

Des Moines, IA 

Ray Wilson 

Local 280 

Richland, WA 

Charles N. Ayers 

Local 302 

Bothell, WA 

Richard E. Amos 

Roland Bergey 

Dan L. Blankenship 

Local 310 

Green Bay, WI 

Gaylord Johnson 

Donald J. Lindow 

Marvin Pankratz 

Local 317 

Oak Creek, WI 

Harold Aagerup 

Jerome E. Sautbine 

Local 324 

Bloomfield 

Township, MI 

Merle E. Butrick 

Charles J. Doxtater 

Lewis Johnson jr 

Peter P. Lazere 

Arthur C. Winterstein 

jr 

Local 351 

Borger, TX 

Thomas C. Wood 

Local 382 

Clarence 

Hawkins 

John L. Kirpatrick 

Clifford H. Porter 

Local 399 

Chicago, IL 

Jim M. Brannon 

Frank J. Mack 

Local 407 

Lake Charles, LA 

Carl W. Hendry 

Local 428 

Phoenix, AZ 

Darwin E. Ritchhart 

Local 463 

Ransomville, NY 

George W. Mccollum 

Howard L. 

Moeller 

Local 513 

Bridgeton, MO 

Hugh V. Painter 

Local 520 

Granite City, IL 

Morris D. Snead 

Local 542 

Fort Washington, 

PA 

George B. Gaull jr 

Local 564 

Richwood, TX 

Robert E. Pollock 

B .L. Swain 

Local 612 

Tacoma, WA 

Merle E. Clevenger 

Local 701 

Gladstone, OR 

Ray O. Eide 

William A. Walker 

Local 793 

Oakville, ON 

Donald C. Durepos 

Eric J. Gaudet 

Ronald W. Jones 

Local 826 

B .G. Hopper 

Wilbur R. Pope 

Local 832 

Rochester, NY 

Alva L. Gregor 

Local 859 

John H. Carney 

Local 865 

Thunder Bay, ON 

V .Larocque 

Local 925 

Mango, FL 

Billie A. Walker 

Local 955 

Edmonton, AB 

Walter R. Baker 

24 INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER 


International Union of Operating Engineers 

1125 17 th Street, NW 


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PAID 

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