International Operating Engineer - Fall 2018

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
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International Union of Operating Engineers
AFL-CIO
general officers
James T. Callahan, General President
Brian E. Hickey, General Secretary-Treasurer
Russell E. Burns, First Vice President
James M. Sweeney, Second Vice President
Robert T. Heenan, Third Vice President
Daniel J. McGraw, Fourth Vice President
Daren Konopaski, Fifth Vice President
Michael Gallagher, Sixth Vice President
Greg Lalevee, Seventh Vice President
Terrance E. McGowan, Eighth Vice President
Randy Griffin, Ninth Vice President
Douglas W. Stockwell, Tenth Vice President
Ronald J. Sikorski, Eleventh Vice President
James T. Kunz, Jr., Twelfth Vice President
Edward J. Curly, Thirteenth Vice President
Charlie Singletary, Fourteenth Vice President
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trustees
Kuba J. Brown, Chairman
Brian Cochrane, Trustee
William Lynn, Trustee
Joshua VanDyke, Trustee
Barton Florence, Trustee
International Operating Engineer
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
AS A PRODUCTIVE and successful
2018 comes to a close, we look to keep
the momentum going into the new
year. Work hours and job placements
for our skilled H&P, Stationary and
Pipeline hands remains strong. Our
investments in recruitment and
training have scaled up to meet
demand. Our union is poised to take
advantage of every opportunity and
tackle any challenge 2019 has in store.
The Labor Movement scored some
significant victories in the final months
of this year. In August, we had a
huge victory in Missouri when voters
rejected that state’s anti-union ‘rightto-work’
law. A massive statewide
campaign, in which all of our Locals
were heavily involved, culminated in
a resounding 67% voting against the
effort to weaken and silence Missouri’s
unionized workers.
That energy carried through to the
November elections and labor unions
again played a major role across the
country. A record number of people
voted in the 2018 mid-term elections,
and IUOE members and working
families everywhere helped to elect
pro-worker candidates from both
parties.
We deployed International staff to
the battleground states of Michigan,
Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania
and Wisconsin to assist our Local
unions in mobilizing voters, while
IUOE Locals in California and Illinois
ran comprehensive campaigns as
well. These efforts led the way to
victory, racking up significant wins for
working people in races for Congress,
governors’ offices, state legislatures
and ballot initiatives.
Labor’s election efforts nationwide
were monumental, with over 2.3
million doors knocked and almost
5,000 worksites visited. When the dust
settled, nearly 750 union members
were elected to various positions at
the local, state and federal level. Best
of all, we helped defeat the two biggest
anti-union governors in the nation in
Illinois and Wisconsin.
Now we must build on this success
and hold those we elected to account.
Many of our favored candidates ran
on policy, not partisan politics, as they
should. On the campaign trail, many
talked about healthcare, family wage
jobs and infrastructure investments.
These are among the bread-andbutter
issues that our union considers
a priority and why we supported
candidates, both Republican and
Democrat, who shared this vision.
On infrastructure, we have heard
a lot of promises from members of
both political parties. Now we need
to turn those promises into bold,
forward looking policy proposals that
are paid for with real money. No more
accounting gimmicks that patch things
for the short term and put off the hard
choices for a later time. That time is
now.
Congress need only look at states
like California and New Jersey where
voters recently backed raising funds
through the gas tax as long as that
money was 100% dedicated to fixing the
state’s crumbling roads and dangerous
bridges. People want safe and reliable
infrastructure and they are willing to
pay for it.
In addition, when we invest in
infrastructure we are investing in
ourselves. Studies show that every $1
billion in construction spending leads
to 5,000 direct onsite jobs. This figure
has been found to be same in the United
States as well as Canada. Ramping up
investments in infrastructure will lead
to millions of new job opportunities
in construction for current and future
Operating Engineers.
The elections revealed that our
membership can be a powerful agent
of change in our communities and
our country. Today’s politicians know
[James T. Callahan]
quite well how many people vote in the
district they represent and which issues
matter to them. We must keep up the
pressure to create more middle-class
jobs and protect our rights to collective
bargaining.
On a more somber note, we recently
mourned the passing of two great IUOE
leaders, former General President
Vincent Giblin and former General
Secretary-Treasurer Budd Coutts. Both
men spent their careers working in
the trade and working to improve the
trade for every member of this great
International Union.
During their time, both gentlemen
strengthened our membership,
raised our political clout and set
a new standard for what a vibrant
and progressive trade union can
accomplish. We stand on their
shoulders and, because of them, our
union is capable of great things.
I wish every member a peaceful
holiday season spent with friends and
family.
See you next year. Work safe.
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