125 Years Strong – An IUOE History

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS
erected the turbines, they were then connected
to the mainland by an underwater cable.
Yet another strong source of employment for
I.U.O.E. members was put in place when the
federal Fixing America’s Surface Transportation
Act (or FAST Act) was made law in the United
States on December 4, 2015, allowing state
and local governments to move forward with
critical transportation projects such as new
highways and transit lines with the assurance
of federal financial backing. Representing
an overall investment of $305 billion, the
FAST Act would keep thousands of operating
engineers employed on ongoing projects while
creating thousands of new job opportunities
for the members over the ensuing five years.
The union made even more progress in 2016,
during which it conducted its Jurisdictional
Best Practices training sessions at 12 different
locals, which were attended by roughly 100
business managers and business agents. The
training was part of what the union called
its “all-hands-on-deck approach” that had
already led to the successful resolution of
eight impediment-of-job-progress complaints
filed before the “Plan for The Settlement of
Jurisdictional Disputes” (a tool established by
NABTU and five major construction-industry
employer associations), with all rulings going
in favor of the I.U.O.E.
In Canada that year, the union was extremely
active in securing various agreements in the
pipeline industry, including an arrangement
on the $12-million TransCanada Pipeline
Limited providing first right of refusal on all
of its projects when entering the construction
phase. The union also successfully lobbied the
Canadian Federal Government for approval
on three projects involving Enbridge Energy
Partners totaling $7.8 billion and Kinder
Morgan’s proposed $6.8-billion Trans-
Mountain Pipeline expansion.
As the economy continued to support strong
employment for I.U.O.E. members through
2017 and into 2018, demand for the union’s
skilled operating engineers remained high.
As such, the I.U.O.E. further strengthened
its position within the industries it serves
when it opened its International Training &
Education Center, a state-of-the-art training
facility near Houston, Texas, in April 2018.
Many of the more than 40 members of I.U.O.E. Local No. 150 of Chicago who worked at the Newton County (Indiana) Landfill in
2018 stand tall during a break from moving 1.2-million yards of dirt. (Photo courtesy of Local 150 and member Tony Walker.)
Cranes operated by members of I.U.O.E. Local No. 15 of New York City construct multiple highrise buildings in the new
Hudson Yards mixed-use, planned development in the Chelsea and Hudson Yards neighborhoods of Manhattan in July 2018.
Staying Strong into Year 125
When more than 600 delegates
convened for the I.U.O.E. 39 th
General Convention on May 6,
2018, in Hollywood, Florida, they were fully
prepared to embrace the convention’s theme,
“The Future is Now,” and take on current
challenges the union was facing while also
maintaining the positive gains it had made
over the previous few years. In doing so, the
delegates passed 32 resolutions dealing with
skills training; occupational health and safety;
prevailing wage; economic and labor issues;
and pension and healthcare benefits. They
also voted unanimously to re-elect General
President Callahan to a second full, five-year
term, as well as the entire international staff
of General Secretary-Treasurer Brian E.
Hickey, 14 international vice presidents and
five trustees who represent members from every
region of North America.
LABOR OMNIA VINCIT
While also helping to get more unionfriendly
candidates elected at local, state and
federal levels around the United States, the
union played a major role in most of the labor
movement’s significant triumphs that year,
including a victory in Missouri when voters in
August balloting rejected that state’s proposed
anti-union “right-to-work” law. A massive
statewide campaign in which all I.U.O.E.
locals were heavily involved culminated in a
resounding 67-percent of voters voicing their
opposition to the effort to weaken Missouri’s
unions.
As a result of those and other positive
developments, including its locals winning
75 percent of their N.L.R.B. elections for
union representation in shops around North
America, the union grew in numbers – despite
an overall decrease in union membership in
the labor movement in 2018. During the year,
the I.U.O.E. would add more than 6,000
new members to boost its total international
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