IUOE Local 542 Winter 2021 Newsletter

ORGANiZiNG
THE LOCAL 542 BiG SCOOP WINTER 2021
24
ORGANiZiNG REPORT
Sam Wolf
Lead Organizer
I hope all of you and your families enjoyed the holidays
and have stayed safe and healthy. Despite the pandemic,
Local 542’s Organizing Department has been active and
quite successful! Here are some of the successes we
have had in the last few months.
District 1
O’Rourke Steel, Front & York Streets. Philadelphia. We
were able to get the company to hire a union Operator
on site through a subcontractor for the duration of the
project.
NJG Management, Chester Pike, Folcroft. We were able
to get the company to hire one Operator on the job and,
in addition, we negotiated with them to sign a Joint
Bargaining Agreement (JBA).
GJA Construction, Broad & Parrish Streets, Philadelphia.
We were able to get the company to hire a union
Operator on site through a subcontractor for the
duration of the project.
Diplomat Demolition, Street Road, Bucks County. We
were setting up a demonstration on the project. They
found out about and reached out to us. They agreed to
hire one Operator for the duration of the project. In
addition, they agreed to sign a JBA.
Second Story Renovation. We negotiated a Collective
Bargaining Agreement (CBA) with them, and they agreed
to sign a Residential Agreement.
We have quite a few targets in District 1, so we are
looking forward to a lot more good news in the coming
months.
District 2 and C Branch
We are in talks for full CBA with HC Contractors.
LR Costanzo Construction, Air Products, Trexlertown.
We were able to get the company to hire five Operators;
and, because they were extremely pleased with the skills
of the Operators they got, we are currently in talks
about a full CBA.
Northside Meats. We negotiated a C Branch Agreement
with them.
We are in talks with Keystone Site Works. However, due
to the COVID-19 virus, those talks have slowed down.
They are looking to possibly put one or two Operators on
this winter.
Northern General Contractors. We negotiated a CBA
with them; they signed our Local agreement and will
have a job in Bernville.
Finally, we are also working to finalize a Residential
Agreement with Complete Property Services.
We have some excellent targets in District 2, including
one where we are looking for some salts. Contact the
Organizing Department if you are interested in helping
out.
Districts 3 & 4 and C Branch
District 3 Agents, together with their colleagues from
District 4 and C-Branch, were successful in winning an
organizing election against Satellite Services, Inc.
We are working on several other targets in these areas.
District 5
We have been in contact with International Pipeline
Representative Kevin Miller. Our focus has been
contacting more signatory pipeline contractors to bid
work in District 5.
Currently, most of the gas pipeline work in Delaware is
being done by Voshell Brothers Welding (VBW), based in
Dover, Delaware. Pipeline work is a difficult market to
break into because it is all private work.
There are no Responsible Contracting Ordinances (RCOs)
or Prevailing Wage regulations applied to this work – two
things that typically would give a union contractor a bid
advantage.
Recently, the Hillis Group and Otis Eastern, two union
companies, have bid work against VBW. Otis Eastern was
awarded a project in Dover that we expected to wrap up
before the end of 2020. Both Hillis Group and Otis
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