International Operating Engineer - Fall 2017

Feature
OVER A THREE month span, record breaking hurricanes
and wildfires left a path of death and destruction through
parts of the United States and Canada. Scores of IUOE
members and their families were forced to evacuate their
homes, with many suffering significant property damage.
Some lost everything.
In the aftermath, Operating Engineers are hard at work
helping family members, neighbors and complete strangers
begin the long process of rebuilding their homes, schools
and communities. Individual members, Local unions and
the International have all stepped up with offers of assistance
– both financial and physical.
The IUOE National Charity Fund has received nearly
$850,000 in donations from Locals and individual members
since August. To date, the Fund has paid out $570,000 to
IUOE members who suffered damages related to the storms
and wildfires. In addition, members have travelled far from
home to assist in the recovery work.
In late August, nineteen separate wildfires merged to
create the largest wildfire ever recorded in British Columbia’s
history. The massive Plateau fire consumed an estimated
520,000 hectares (2,008 sq/mi) and displaced thousands.
BC firefighters, along with dozens of aircraft piloted by IUOE
Local 115 members, fought more than 123 wildfires within
the province during the season. Aerial firefighting is a highly
skilled and very dangerous profession, and the Local 115
members employed by Conair Group Inc. are among the best
in the business.
Around the same time, the Texas Gulf Coast was walloped
by Hurricane Harvey. It inflicted nearly $200 billion in
damage primarily from widespread flooding in the Houston
metropolitan area. In a four-day period, with peak rain
accumulations of 64.58 in (164.0 cm), Harvey is now the
wettest storm on record in the United States. Over 100
members of Locals 450 and 564 sustained serious property
damage and have received help from the union relief fund.
Local 564 Business Manager Charlie Singletary said,
“Whenever our family is in need, our brothers and sisters
from the IUOE always step up and show what big hearts they
have. I’m damn proud to be an Operating Engineer.”
TEXAS
TEXAS
Rebuilding Community
Natural disasters put Operating Engineers
on front line of recovery efforts
TEXAS
TEXAS
[top, left] Local 450 member Dwight Chandler’s house in Texas.
[top, right] The Local 564 hall was not immune to Harvey’s rain.
[middle, left] Local 450 member Ted Koch begins clean-up at his
home. [middle, middle] Local 564 member Marc Garcia, his wife
and daughter escaped their home with an inflatable life raft that
he kept in storage. [middle, right] Local 115 Conair Group pilots
battling wildfires in BC. [bottom, left] Conair’s CV580 fighting the
Kaleden fire. [bottom, right] Local 564 Business Manager hands
member Marc Garcia a union relief fund check.
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INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER
BRITISH COLUMBIA
TEXAS
BRITISH COLUMBIA
FALL 2017 13