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 Subscription Terms - per year Change of Address - Requests must be submitted in writing to the IUOE Membership Department (address above). Include your new address, registration and local union number. POSTMASTERS – ATTENTION: Change of address on Form 3579 should be sent to: International Operating Engineer Mailing List Dept. 1125 17th St., NW, 3rd Floor Washington, DC 20036 Publications Mail Agreement No. 40843045 Canada Post: Return undeliverables to P.O. Box 2601, 6915 Dixie Rd, Mississauga, ON L4T 0A9 Printed in the U.S.A. International Union of Operating Engineers AFL-CIO general officers James T. Callahan, General President Brian E. Hickey, General Secretary-Treasurer Russell E. Burns, First Vice President James M. Sweeney, Second Vice President Robert T. Heenan, Third Vice President Daniel J. McGraw, Fourth Vice President Daren Konopaski, Fifth Vice President Michael Gallagher, Sixth Vice President Greg Lalevee, Seventh Vice President Terrance E. McGowan, Eighth Vice President Randy Griffin, Ninth Vice President Douglas W. Stockwell, Tenth Vice President Ronald J. Sikorski, Eleventh Vice President James T. Kunz, Jr., Twelfth Vice President Edward J. Curly, Thirteenth Vice President Charlie Singletary, Fourteenth Vice President Got Big News ? from Your Local We want to hear about it. trustees Kuba J. Brown, Chairman Brian Cochrane, Trustee William Lynn, Trustee Joshua VanDyke, Trustee Barton Florence, 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 AS A PRODUCTIVE and successful 2018 comes to a close, we look to keep the momentum going into the new year. Work hours and job placements for our skilled H&P, Stationary and Pipeline hands remains strong. Our investments in recruitment and training have scaled up to meet demand. Our union is poised to take advantage of every opportunity and tackle any challenge 2019 has in store. The Labor Movement scored some significant victories in the final months of this year. In August, we had a huge victory in Missouri when voters rejected that state’s anti-union ‘rightto-work’ law. A massive statewide campaign, in which all of our Locals were heavily involved, culminated in a resounding 67% voting against the effort to weaken and silence Missouri’s unionized workers. That energy carried through to the November elections and labor unions again played a major role across the country. A record number of people voted in the 2018 mid-term elections, and IUOE members and working families everywhere helped to elect pro-worker candidates from both parties. We deployed International staff to the battleground states of Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin to assist our Local unions in mobilizing voters, while IUOE Locals in California and Illinois ran comprehensive campaigns as well. These efforts led the way to victory, racking up significant wins for working people in races for Congress, governors’ offices, state legislatures and ballot initiatives. Labor’s election efforts nationwide were monumental, with over 2.3 million doors knocked and almost 5,000 worksites visited. When the dust settled, nearly 750 union members were elected to various positions at the local, state and federal level. Best of all, we helped defeat the two biggest anti-union governors in the nation in Illinois and Wisconsin. Now we must build on this success and hold those we elected to account. Many of our favored candidates ran on policy, not partisan politics, as they should. On the campaign trail, many talked about healthcare, family wage jobs and infrastructure investments. These are among the bread-andbutter issues that our union considers a priority and why we supported candidates, both Republican and Democrat, who shared this vision. On infrastructure, we have heard a lot of promises from members of both political parties. Now we need to turn those promises into bold, forward looking policy proposals that are paid for with real money. No more accounting gimmicks that patch things for the short term and put off the hard choices for a later time. That time is now. Congress need only look at states like California and New Jersey where voters recently backed raising funds through the gas tax as long as that money was 100% dedicated to fixing the state’s crumbling roads and dangerous bridges. People want safe and reliable infrastructure and they are willing to pay for it. In addition, when we invest in infrastructure we are investing in ourselves. Studies show that every billion in construction spending leads to 5,000 direct onsite jobs. This figure has been found to be same in the United States as well as Canada. Ramping up investments in infrastructure will lead to millions of new job opportunities in construction for current and future Operating Engineers. The elections revealed that our membership can be a powerful agent of change in our communities and our country. Today’s politicians know [James T. Callahan] quite well how many people vote in the district they represent and which issues matter to them. We must keep up the pressure to create more middle-class jobs and protect our rights to collective bargaining. On a more somber note, we recently mourned the passing of two great IUOE leaders, former General President Vincent Giblin and former General Secretary-Treasurer Budd Coutts. Both men spent their careers working in the trade and working to improve the trade for every member of this great International Union. During their time, both gentlemen strengthened our membership, raised our political clout and set a new standard for what a vibrant and progressive trade union can accomplish. We stand on their shoulders and, because of them, our union is capable of great things. I wish every member a peaceful holiday season spent with friends and family. See you next year. Work safe. 4 INTERNATIONAL OPERATING ENGINEER FALL 2018 5
