International Operating Engineer - Spring 2016

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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be submitted in writing to the IUOE
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above). Include your new address,
registration and local union number.
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International Union of Operating Engineers
AFL-CIO
general officers
James T. Callahan, General President
Brian E. Hickey, General Secretary-Treasurer
Jerry Kalmar, First Vice President
Russell E. Burns, Second Vice President
James M. Sweeney, Third Vice President
Robert T. Heenan, Fourth Vice President
Daniel J. McGraw, Fifth Vice President
Daren Konopaski, Sixth Vice President
Michael Gallagher, Seventh Vice President
Greg Lalevee, Eighth Vice President
Terrance E. McGowan, Ninth Vice President
Louis G. Rasetta, Tenth Vice President
Mark Maierle, Eleventh Vice President
Randy Griffin, Twelfth Vice President
Douglas W. Stockwell, Thirteenth Vice President
Ronald J. Sikorski, Fourteenth Vice President
Got Big
News
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from Your
Local
We want to
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trustees
Kuba J. Brown, Chairman
Bruce Moffatt, Trustee
James T. Kunz, Jr., Trustee
Joseph F. Shanahan, Trustee
Edward J. Curly, 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
Making the Most of Opportunity
Meeting a challenge head-on is how we operate
We have a big year ahead us. The
construction season has begun, the
economy is coming around, more
money is being invested and more
work hours for IUOE members as a
result. We have a great opportunity to
increase our market share and grow
our ranks through organizing. And,
there’s that small matter of electing a
new President.
Like any year, we will have
opportunities and challenges.
It has been a very challenging
time politically, with attacks across
the country by right-wing groups
attempting to diminish our voice and
roll back our basic legal protections.
But it’s not all bad news; in fact we have
had some solid victories along the way.
The federal highway bill that passed
at the very end of last year was a huge
victory for Operating Engineers.
The bill – Fixing America’s Surface
Transportation or FAST Act – is a fully
funded, $305 billion dollar program
over the next five years and the largest
piece of job creating legislation coming
out of the federal government.
The legislation includes $70 billion
dollars in new revenue for the Highway
Trust Fund and in the first year both
the Highway Program and the Transit
Program have significant increases.
The following four years grow at slower
rates, but the program is on solid
footing. All major funding provisions
require the payment of Davis-Bacon
prevailing wages to Operating
Engineers.
On healthcare, we won a two-year
delay of the Affordable Care Act’s
“Cadillac Tax” on high cost health
insurance plans. The tax would have
ensnared a number of IUOE plans and
would grab more health and welfare
plans over time. The postponement
until 2020 now leaves the issue in the
hands of the next administration and
Hillary Clinton has said publicly and
told us privately, that she favors a full
repeal of the tax.
But most of the action has been in
state capitals and while we can claim
credit in a number of states, these have
been defensive victories. We fought off
some of the worst attacks, but still had
some setbacks.
On Right-to-work, our locals in
Missouri and New Mexico played key
leadership roles in fighting off this
extreme anti-union legislation. And in
Kentucky, Operating Engineers made
sure that the state legislature held onto
a pro-union majority, heading off antiworker
bills there.
In Michigan, Operating Engineers
led the building trades’ effort
to challenge petition signatures
circulated by the Associated Builders
and Contractors to repeal the state
prevailing wage law. They were able
to disqualify tens of thousands of
signatures and stop the effort.
Unfortunately, we did experience
a setback earlier this year in West
Virginia as right-wing Republicans in
that state reversed generations of prolabor
solidarity by passing a Rightto-work
law and repealing prevailing
wage. However, we are already fighting
back there.
Angered by their legislators’
retreat from labor-friendly positions,
eight West Virginia IUOE members
have declared their candidacies for
legislative office. In addition, all
legal avenues are being explored
and lawsuits have been filed by labor
groups to overturn Right-to-work.
I can only touch on a few of the fights
that IUOE locals have had to wage,
expending valuable time and resources
fighting back against the right-wing
Republican agenda. The list is a lot
longer and the attacks keep coming.
What we can clearly see however, is
[James T. Callahan]
that political engagement at every level
is a necessity if we are to maintain our
collective bargaining rights, wages,
benefits and pensions into the future.
This year we have another big
election to win. The race for President,
and the policies the two candidates
promote, will have a ripple effect on
all the local, state and Congressional
elections being contested in November.
The presumed nominees, Hillary
Clinton and Donald Trump, both claim
to be on the side of working men and
women.
But only Clinton has a record of
working with unions to create jobs.
Trump has fought unions and denied
workers a voice at the bargaining table.
I urge everyone to look closely at their
records and not just their rhetoric or
showmanship. A great place to start is
www.engineersaction.org
Volunteering some time to work
on local campaigns can make a real
difference for your family and your
fellow Operating Engineers. Who
knows? It might even be fun. I hope
everyone will take some time to do so
this year.
As we go to press, we are closely
watching the developments of a
massive wildfire in and around Fort
McMurray, Alberta. Many Operating
Engineers living and working there
have been affected. Please keep them
in your thoughts and prayers. Work
safe.
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