125 Years Strong – An IUOE History

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS
of the country affected I.U.S.O.E. members
in places including Rockport, Massachusetts,
and Graniteville, Vermont.
Addressing the convention on the ominous
state of affairs, President Huddell professed:
“When the situation is presented to this office,
there is no escape from granting men strike
permission who are willing to go out and fight
for conditions for the engineers, and in every such
case strike permission has been granted by me, and
the men have gone out and fought in a manner
that is a credit to our international union. Our
membership has shown, in both the stationary
and the hoisting branch of our organization, that
they are willing to fight for conditions, and have
gone out and demonstrated, as they never did
before, their fighting qualities. To every man who
has been involved in these controversies, I want
to say that he deserves the highest praise for the
manner in which he has conducted himself, and
the results that have been accomplished will reflect
to the credit of these men and future Engineers.”
Additional Gains & High Spirits
By mid-1923, the I.U.S.O.E. was
emerging from the effects of the
depression and a measure of prosperity
was returning to its ranks and, subsequently, the
international office. Importantly, the union had
again held together through another extended
test of its collective will and brotherhood,
giving rise to an essay in the July 1923 issue of
the union’s journal to announce:
“Attempts of employers’ associations
to disrupt the ranks of labor found the
International Union of Steam and
Operating Engineers invulnerable in
practically every quarter. Members
were less affected by the insidious
schemes to break down morale of the
membership than any other unit of
the American Federation of Labor.”
Moreover, advancing technology into and
during the mid-1920s helped usher in a period
of relatively strong prosperity for construction
workers, including engineers. Gains made
by the I.U.S.O.E., in particular, resulted in
increased membership in 1923, during which
the union reinstated 1,512 former members,
admitted 5,521 new members and granted 25
charters for new locals.
Two international collective-bargaining
practices initiated during that time – which
later became important elements in the union’s
bargaining strength, as The Economic History of a
Trade Union points out – also helped sustain the
union’s improving condition. The first was an
international agreement signed directly between
the heads of firms doing interstate business and
General President Huddell, who in his report to
the I.U.S.O.E. Ninth Biennial Convention in
Detroit in September 1924 strongly advocated
for such agreements, which called for the hiring of
only union labor, adherence to area wage scales and
work rules, and settling labor disputes peacefully.
The second was the procedure of using the union’s
bargaining power to persuade interstate contractors
to hire union engineers in areas where locals were
too weak to organize the firms.
Soon afterward, President Huddell’s 1926
New Year message to the membership struck a
positive tone as he highlighted the recent gains
made by the I.U.S.O.E. as it approached the
completion of its third decade:
“There are more members now enrolled in the
International Union, and the organization's treasury
is in a more prosperous condition than ever before.
Also, there has never been a time when harmony and
mutuality among all the elements of the organization
was as evident as now. Not only have we enjoyed
a most gratifying increase in number, but there has
likewise been a substantial improvement in wages
and working conditions for our membership – an
improvement hitherto unequalled in any one year of
the organization’s history.”
The union strengthened the position of
its general president through constitutional
Members of I.U.O.E. Local No. 37 in Baltimore operate a crane for
employer Potts and Callahan on a job in the city at a site in what is
now Camden Yards sometime during the late 1920s or early 1930s.
amendments made during its 1926 convention
that enhanced the general president’s
supervisory control by giving him “power to
suspend either individual members or officers
for incompetency, negligence or failure in
successfully carrying out their duties.” The
president was further provided the authority
to select the person who would replace any
suspended officer or member.
In addition, another constitutional revision
made during that convention lengthened the
period between which conventions would be
held from two years to four years – thereby
lengthening the time between which general
officers were to be elected and re-elected, as well.
As the union’s new-found progress continued,
by the close of its 30 th year it had gained more
members in 1926 than in any other year, and its
membership stood at more than 40,000 while
its assets in property and money in all funds
totaled over $200,000. With those substantial
developments, the I.U.S.O.E. was able to
obtain better conditions for members, and that
year, locals entered into more agreements with
employers than ever before for increased wages,
shorter hours, better working conditions and
even paid vacation time – while only one local
had to go out on strike to secure an increase.
Several jurisdictional disputes were also
settled satisfactorily during the year, including
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