International Operating Engineer - Winter 2019

Healthcare
It is Time to Get Uncomfortable
Program provides resources to assist members
IT IS TIME to get uncomfortable about addiction, suicide
and behavioral health. These issues are affecting everyone
on the jobsite and the Operating Engineers have been in
the forefront in addressing the issues with local unions and
leadership across the United States and Canada. The statistics
are staggering! Shockingly, construction has the second
highest rate of substance abuse amongst all workforces
(SAMSHA) and is first when it comes to suicide (Shoot, 2018),
which ends up being four times the national average.
A Member Assistance Program is a peer-to-peer based
confidential assistance service. It enables union members to
talk to other union members who are trained in peer support
to recognize the problem, react to the problem by creating
a pathway for the member to seek help, and recommending
them to resources, which have been gathered through
networking with other organizations by the Local. A peer’s
main job is to support the person who is struggling. Research
shows that early intervention with a peer when dealing with
substance abuse, behavioral health disorders and suicide
helps save lives.
In May 2018, delegates to the 39th IUOE General
Convention passed a resolution to assist and encourage
all locals to begin a Member Assistance Program. The
International is in the process of designing a four-day course
that gives interested members, business agents, and business
managers the tools they need to build a Member Assistance
Program. Participants will attain the basic knowledge on
how to begin a peer program within their home local.
Peer-to-peer programs have long been successful in
creating the pathways to help struggling people receive the
help they need. It is time that we recognize the value that
peers have and the benefit that they can provide to those
struggling. The first offering of peer training will be April
29th to May 2nd at the IUOE Training & Conference Center
in Texas. Please note this course will be offered under the
National Training Fund.
For more information, contact Kyle Zimmer, kzimmer@
local478.org or Ashley Dwyer, adwyer@local478.org
Against All Odds
Apprenticeship helps operator overcome
hardships and find happiness
BEFORE STEPHEN JONES found
the Operating Engineers, he’d had a
rough life. When he was 11 years old,
he joined his mother when she decided
to leave his father, who struggled with
drug abuse, but their financial troubles
would result in frequent moves from
one home to another.
“I didn’t really understand why; I
just knew it was time to start packing
and meet new friends at a new school,”
he said.
At 13, Stephen was diagnosed with
stage 3 fibrosis of the liver, a severe
medical condition that added to
the hardship he and his family were
experiencing. It also required so much
hospitalization that he had to be held
back during his eighth-grade year. Then
one day in high school, he came home
and was told to start packing again.
“We stayed in a Motel 6, but the
money shortly ran out,” he explained.
Member Spotlight
[above] Local 3 Operator Stephen Jones works on the University of California at Merced’s
2020 project.
[above] A new video and other resources are available to Locals and members in the Substance Abuse Resource
Center on the IUOE website. Please vist: https://www.iuoe.org/members/substance-abuse-resource-center
Stephen and his mother started
sleeping in the back of a van, their
many pets nestled between them,
while a brother slept in the front. It was
a hard time, made harder by the fact
that Stephen’s older brother was sent
to prison.
“I was 15, homeless and my role
model had just been sent to prison,” he
said. “Devastation started to kick in.”
Despite his living conditions,
Stephen worked hard so he could
graduate high school a year early
through an independent study
program. He not only achieved his goal,
graduating in 2010 instead of 2011, but
graduated as valedictorian.
“It was the proudest moment of my
life!” he said.
He decided to go to college in
Nebraska, only to discover that he
didn’t qualify for financial aid because
his father had been using his Social
Security number to rack-up debt. With
college out of the question, he moved
in with his grandmother. He saw a Job
Corps commercial while watching
television at her house, called the
number and was accepted into the
program a week later.
“To this day, it’s the only commercial
for Job Corps that I’ve ever seen!” he
said.
On his first day of training, a
longtime friend committed suicide.
The grief was tremendous, but a Job
Corps instructor took him aside,
encouraged him to stay in the program
and prayed for him. With the support
of the Job Corps staff, Stephen finished
the program in only five months, a
process that can take up two years.
That prayer on his first day also helped
him find faith, which continues to be a
source of strength for him, motivating
him to help others.
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WINTER 2019
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