125 Years Strong – An IUOE History

INTERNATIONAL UNION OF OPERATING ENGINEERS
As the I.U.O.E. moved into the new
“Y2K” millennium, it was in excellent
financial condition as the result of
wise investments and thoughtful, attentive
expenditures. The union was also wellpositioned
to service its members through a
host of programs, which General President
Hanley reminded nearly 300 representatives
from locals throughout the United States and
Canada attending the 2000 General Executive
Board open session in January would remain
the union’s main mission:
“Servicing our members is the
rock-solid foundation for all that
we have accomplished in our 100-
plus years of existence. ... It is
the principle that will guide the
I.U.O.E. through its next 100 years
and beyond.”
The union’s organizing activities were also
continuing to yield dividends, and by August
2000, it had gained nearly 10,000 new members
over the preceding year alone. Indicative of the
increased organizing activity, backed by the
Cooperative Organizing Grant Program, were
a number of significant wins registered by local
unions, including some 830 workers at the J.
Ray McDermott fabrication yard in Amelia,
Louisiana, voting for Local No. 406 of New
Orleans to serve as their collective-bargaining
representative. The employees withstood a
virulent anti-union campaign by the company,
which builds large offshore structures such as
oil rigs, and some local politicians and voted
for I.U.O.E. representation in an N.L.R.B.-
conducted election.
Members of I.U.O.E. Local No. 37 in Baltimore take part in the local’s firstever
hazardous materials training class at its training center in October 1990.
Fueled by relatively robust economies in both
the United States and Canada, construction
work boomed in 1999 and, in turn, spurred
work opportunities in the stationary industry.
The I.U.O.E. then earmarked $15 million for
a newly established Cooperative Organizing
Grant Program in June 1999 to further
encourage and assist locals with organizing by
providing matching funds for up to half of the
cost for a local’s new staff and rank-and-file
organizers. In addition to the grants, highlights
of a comprehensive agenda General President
Hanley outlined at the General Executive
Board meeting held June 17 to 19 included
development of organizing programs specifically
aimed at youth and Hispanic workers.
Demonstrating its dedication to fostering
a productive and diverse membership,
particularly in view of the increasing numbers
of minorities and women who were entering
the labor market (in 1998, 24 percent of
I.U.O.E. apprentices were minorities and 21
percent were female), the I.U.O.E. reached
out to the growing number of Latino-
Americans in the building-and-construction
and building-services industries. Such efforts
were underscored on January 25, 2000, when
the union signed a five-year Memorandum
of Agreement with the U.S. Department of
Energy to establish and implement a national
Hispanic Outreach Program to provide
Latinos with the tools to make them skilled,
productive operating engineers.
Introduction of those programs and others
once again displayed the union’s commitment
to organizing as a primary means of increasing
the strength of the I.U.O.E. and its locals.
Momentum Paused by 9/11
Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope
(Photo credit: NRAO/AUI/NSF.)
The union then won a months-long fight
after launching a full-scale counterattack in
May 2000 when Maintenance Technologies
Group, a building-services employer, took
over work at LaGuardia Airport in New York
Members of I.U.O.E. Local No. 132 of Charleston, West Virginia, construct the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope in Green
Bank, West Virginia, in 1998. When completed in 2000, it would be the world’s largest fully steerable radio telescope.
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