125 Years Strong – An IUOE History

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS
of Steam and Operating Engineers (I.U.S.O.E., which would be
renamed to I.U.O.E. in 1927) even began running articles that
contained simple lessons in mathematics “to assist beginners
particularly to secure licenses, and also help them in passing civil
service examinations.” The union chose to publish the articles, titled
“Practical Arithmetic for Engineers and Apprentices,” as requests
from “localities where no license law exists and from apprentice
engineers have become so numerous to this office, asking what
course of study to pursue to fit themselves to pass an examination
for an engineer’s certificate.”
That year, the I.U.S.O.E. was inundated with requests to
establish apprentice locals, about which it announced in the
November 1915 International Steam Engineer, “It is very gratifying
to the General Officers of the I.U.S.O.E. to see the number of
petitions reaching headquarters requesting the organizing of Local
Unions of Apprentice Engineers in the various localities, which
shows beyond all question of doubt the desire of the men of that
calling to become affiliated with our international organization.”
Subsequently, the union issued an initial charter to Apprentice
Local No. 1 of Detroit, an affiliate of that city’s Local No. 5, on
May 18, 1915.
I.U.O.E. instructors work with trainees at the I.T.E.C.
Advancing Apprenticeship to the Forefront
Into the late 1950s, the I.U.O.E. still had little need to
administer standardized apprenticeship programs, especially given
engineers did not require a great deal of math to perform their
jobs. Consequently, the union’s longstanding informal process of
educating apprentices primarily through on-the-job training was
still adequate for preparing those novice members.
But a 1959 ruling by the National Labor Relations Board (N.L.R.B.)
that would affect the hoisting and portable branch of the I.U.O.E.
essentially forced the union to formally engage in apprenticeship
training. In the decision, the N.L.R.B. declared that the operation of
construction machinery was a “service trade” instead of a “skilled
craft” because no federal apprenticeship program for operating
engineers existed at the time and, therefore, they essentially did not
possess skills that required excessive training.
“While we believe that these rulings are wrong, they are
nevertheless effective as an obstacle to our progress. They
stand in the way of our ability to carve out our proper bargaining
units from larger bodies of employees and severely hinder our
organizational activities,” General President Joseph J. Delaney
declared to the I.U.O.E. 26 th Convention on April 11, 1960. “The
only way to overcome this problem is through the development
and promotion of recognized apprenticeship training programs.”
Local No. 428 of Arizona established the union’s first
negotiated joint-labor-management apprenticeship program for
operating engineers in 1959 – which was the first to apply a
set of recommended apprenticeship standards – when its new
contract set up a joint apprenticeship fund financed by employer
A drilling class at Local 150 in Chicago.
contributions. The fund would develop and maintain a federally
sanctioned apprenticeship program that included 6,000 hours of
schooling through standardized classroom instruction and on-thejob
training for grading- and paving-equipment operators; heavyduty
mechanics and repairmen; universal-equipment operator;
and plant-equipment operators.
As the I.U.O.E. continued to develop its training efforts on
an international level, in 1961 it assigned New York Local
No. 15 Business Agent Reese Hammond as director of the
union’s Department of Research and Organization and charged
him with formulating its education and training programs.
The union then renegotiated its agreement with the National
Constructors’ Association (NCA) in 1962 to include a new article
through which the two parties agreed to establish a National
Joint Apprenticeship Committee composed of
three association members and three union
members “to consider and develop national
standards for apprenticeship for the trade
of operating engineer.” After the Associated
General Contractors joined the committee, the
I.U.O.E. and its employers adopted national
apprenticeship standards at a March 1963
meeting, which were subsequently approved by
the Federal Committee on Apprenticeship.
As the I.U.O.E.’s education and training
director, Brother Hammond also negotiated with
higher-education institutions, including community
colleges, to allow apprentices to receive academic
credit for their union-sponsored instruction.
Between 1964 and 1968, the I.U.O.E.
developed the concept of “continuous
total training,” including pre-apprenticeship,
apprenticeship and upgrade courses for
journeyman-level members, and the union
also began participating in Job Corps to help
A paving class at Local 150.
provide individuals in need with career skills. The
international began assisting locals in earnest in
1966 with developing apprentice and training
programs, as well as training standards and
performance specifications.
As a result of those efforts, by 1968 the
union’s hoisting and portable locals were annually
disbursing $5 million among the apprenticeship
and training programs of 38 locals that were
educating more than 2,000 total apprentices.
What’s more, between 1966 and 1982, the U.S.
Department of Labor awarded over $16 million
in government contracts to I.U.O.E. employment,
training and research initiatives under the union’s
National Training Program.
The union had more than 7,300 registered
apprentices in its hoisting training programs
in 1980, although that number dramatically
dropped to just over 4,000 in 1986 in the wake of a poor national
economy and increased non-union competition. From that time
into 1992, however, the figure slightly rose to more than 4,670
enrolled in programs operated by 75 locals.
The development of training programs for I.U.O.E. stationary
locals was similar to that of the union’s hoisting and portable locals,
if not as rapid. The union’s Committee on Stationary Engineers first
worked to establish a National Stationary Apprenticeship Program
with employing contractors beginning in early 1973, the result
of which was adoption of new national standards for stationaryengineer
apprenticeship training that September. But into the 1990s,
formal training for stationary apprentices was not as widespread as it
was for the union’s hoisting and portable apprentices.
LABOR OMNIA VINCIT
WORK CONQUERS ALL