operating engineer · 6 international operating engineer smmer 2012 7 education & t raining...

Operating Engineeri n t e rnat i ona l

w w w. i u o e. o r g • s u m m e r 2012

IUOE SpEcIal SErIES:ElEctIOn 2012 Candidate profilesIUOE endorses Barack Obama for re-election

Operators Going Underground in SFOTransbay Terminal is largest

drill-shaft project in North America

summer 2012 3international operating engineer2

Operating Engineeri n t e rnat i ona l

summer 2012 • Volume 155, No. 2Brian e. Hickey, editor

[cover]Mechanic David Nail repairs a drill can on site of theTransbay Transit Center in San Francisco, CA.Photo: Dominique Beilke

[left] Local 302 operators lay pilings for a new ferris wheel at Pier 57 in Seattle, WA. Photo: Simon Johnston

08 A New Bridge Over Troubled Waters congress approves $633 Million Bridge project

14 Election 2012: Special Series the candidates Sound Off about Workers, Unions

18 Operators Going Underground in SFO transbay terminal Work is Full Steam ahead

22 ‘Right to Work’ is Wrong for Everyone Measure Means low Wages, less Voice

Dep

art

men

ts 05 From the General President

06 Education & Training

12 Politics & Legislation

24 GEB Minutes

28 In Memorium


International Operating Engineer(issN 0020-8159) is published by the: international union of operating engineers, AFL-Cio 1125 17th street, Nw washington, DC 20036

Subscription terms - $5 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 engineermailing List Dept.1125 17th st., Nw, 3rd Floorwashington, DC 20036

publications Mail agreement no. 40843045return undeliverable Canadian addresses to: 2835 Kew Drivewindsor, oN N8T3B7

Printed in the u.s.A.

engineers action resPonse netWorKBecause elections matter

Make your voice heard • Register for EARN todaywww.iuoe.org

general officers

James T. Callahan, general PresidentBrian e. Hickey, general secretary-Treasurerwilliam C. waggoner, First Vice PresidentJohn m. Hamilton, second Vice President

Patrick L. sink, Third Vice PresidentJerry Kalmar, Fourth Vice Presidentrussell e. Burns, Fifth Vice President

rodger Kaminska, sixth Vice PresidentJames m. sweeney, seventh Vice President

robert T. Heenan, eighth Vice PresidentDaniel J. mcgraw, Ninth Vice PresidentDaren Konopaski, Tenth Vice President

michael gallagher, eleventh Vice Presidentgreg Lalevee, Twelfth Vice President

Terrance e. mcgowan, Thirteenth Vice PresidentLouis g. rasetta, Fourteenth Vice President

trustees

John m. Holliday iii, ChairmanJohn T. Ahern, TrusteeKuba J. Brown, TrusteeBruce moffatt, Trustee

James T. Kunz, Jr., Trustee

International Union of Operating EngineersAFL-CIO

[James T. Callahan]From the General president

I wANT To open with a heartfelt thank you to all the members who I’ve had the pleasure to meet as I have be-gun to visit locals throughout every region we represent and the Business Managers who invited me to address their members. In addition, our In-ternational Reps who have also given their time to introduce me to scores of talented operating engineers in the pipeline and petro chemical industries who hail from a wide array of locals, who are sought out by contractors be-cause of their expertise, and who travel far and wide to follow the work. I look forward to more of these opportunities and the open and honest discussions that occur.

In my conversations with opera-tors throughout the International, a common thread has become evident that transcends geographic boundar-ies. These are basic ideals that working men and women hold sacred—God, country, family, the right to collectively bargain, the right to bear arms. while these tenets may be labeled “conser-vative” in today’s political discourse, by no means does this indicate accep-tance that our hard-fought rights over working conditions or our well admin-istered health and retirement funds are to be used as political fodder for politi-cians who never held a lever, set a pipe, turned a wrench or maintained a struc-ture environment.

Another election season is quickly upon us and I believe we must act with unity and a clear message towards those seeking our support—or seeking to scapegoat us—in their campaigns for elected office. we must hold poli-ticians accountable, in word and in deed, who would infringe on our col-lective bargaining rights. we must be a visible presence of the majority they wish to represent—the working mid-dle-class—to counter the influence of corporate money and patronage so prevalent today.

our country is just beginning to re-cover from one of the worst recessions on record and many operating engi-neers and their families are still feeling its effects. Brave men and women are returning home from two lengthy and costly wars, only to find that our manu-facturing sector has been sold off-shore for quick profit. Now those responsible for these calamities are telling us we must forego fair wages, promised pen-sions, and safe working conditions to fit into their world view. They are using an age old strategy of divide and con-quer, attempting to pit public and pri-vate sector workers against each other, to methodically dismantle the labor movement.

These attacks on core trade union values like collective bargaining, pre-vailing wage, healthcare and pensions have raised the stakes even higher for this year’s election. we are already see-ing this stark contrast play out in the presidential campaigns of President obama and presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney, bringing into focus who really is the best choice to lead our country forward.

Through surveys, meetings and conversations with IUoE members and local affiliates over these past few months, that choice has become abun-dantly clear. Taking all of this into con-sideration, the IUoE General Executive Board voted unanimously to endorse President Barack obama for re-elec-tion.

when the President took office, he inherited an economy that was losing 750,000 jobs a month. In response, President obama pushed for an eco-nomic recovery plan that prevented another depression and which saved or created 3.6 million jobs. The transpor-tation and infrastructure piece of his stimulus plan created and maintained hundreds of thousands of construction jobs, many of them operating engi-

neers. He also made key appointments in the Department of Labor and to the National Labor Relations Board that have strengthened compliance and standards, and leveled the playing field for labor and management relations.

This isn’t to say that we see eye-to-eye with the President on everything. we were deeply disappointed that he chose to delay construction of the Key-stone XL pipeline and put thousands more operating engineers to work. we don’t expect the president to agree with us every time, but we have never doubted President obama’s commit-ment to creating good jobs and putting the country on a sound path to recov-ery.

Brothers and sisters, I am asking you to stand with me at this time and support President obama so that we can battle back against the anti-labor forces in this country. we must stand united against those who would strip away the rights and voice of working people. we must stand strong and not fall prey to those who would divert our attention away from core trade union values. It is my fear that if we vote sole-ly based on social issues, we will miss the bigger picture and allow our enemy in the door.

we have a lot of work ahead of us to protect the middle class way of life in the United States, but I’m asking the hardest working, smartest, and en-gaged group in the labor movement to see us through.

trade union values unite us allBarack Obama the clear choice moving forward


Education & training

wHEN LocAL 302 planned their new training center in Alaska, it was built with growth—and the elements—in mind. The 11,000 sq. ft. energy efficient main office and classroom building was based on the current membership, but is ready to expand classroom space and training capabilities as the local continues to grow membership.

Adjacent to the main building, is a 9,600 sq. ft. 3-bay shop. Tak-ing training needs into consideration, three classrooms are dedicated to mechanics training. classes are offered to heavy duty mechanic apprentices and journeypersons on major component rebuilds, line-boring, and hydraulics, among other offerings. A computer lab was developed to provide more defined training in electrical classes fo-

cused on mine work. To ac-commodate welding classes, which range from introduc-tory to advanced welding, eight welding booths were configured in the welding bay.

The largest obstacle for training in Alaska is the long winter season. A 16,000 sq. ft. (80’ x 200’) indoor training arena was designed with the specific intent of train-ing on machines and grade checking between November and April. Previously, heavy equipment training was nearly halted due to frozen ground. Local 302 has the only indoor training arena in the state of Alaska and it’s a point of pride to be able to provide local members the benefit of year round training opportunities.

Alaskan Training Center Serves a Growing MembershipLocAL 520 in southern Il-

linois recently began using the operating Engineers certifica-tion Program (oEcP) for all of its crane operator certifications. Business Manager Ron Johnson stated, “we decided to go 100 percent with the oEcP not only because of its exceptional opera-tor assessment capabilities, but being the program is exclusive-ly union, we feel it is the right choice for our membership.”

The oEcP is funded by the IUoE National Training Fund and over the last several years has continued to expand to all areas of the country. Says Bruce Hepp, Local 520’s Apprentice-ship and Training Fund Ad-ministrative Manager, “with the opening of our new training site in St. Jacob, we elected to start fresh with the oEcP and capital-ize on all the advantages it can bring to the local.”

The oEcP is recognized by Federal oSHA and complies with the recently published 29 cFR 1926 regulations that re-quire all crane operators to be certified by November 2014.

For more information about the program, please contact the oEcP Main office at 951-351-4001 or by e-mail at [email protected].

Local 520 Moves to the Operating Engineers Certification Program

From left are Jim McDannel, Roy Heldt, Bill Torgerson, Brad Martin, Kevin Funk, Ted Peterson, Tom Haider, Brian Torgerson, Dan Lessard, Glen Heldt, Andy Guillama, Darrek Travis, Howard Moore, Domenick Tirabassi III, Jeff Manley, Dean Anderson, Mike Branski, Don Oakes and Bob Cayer, instructor.

New Training Simulators Making the Rounds

All Cleaned Up During HAZMAT Training

LocAL 139 MEMBERS, en-rolled in a 40-hour HAZMAT training course, get accustomed to breathing through a respira-tor and moving about wearing a protective suit and gloves while cleaning up the grounds around the local’s hall in Pewaukee, wisconsin.

NATioNAL TrAiNiNg FuND in-structors traveled to the John Deere simulator facility in Davenport, iowa to train on the assembly, set-up, and trouble shooting of four new equip-ment simulators. The two dozer and two motor grader simulators will be loaned to iuoe locals around the u.s. and Canada as part of an NTF pilot program.

The dozer simulators have an automatic grade control simulation utilizing a Topcon control screen, with Trimble and Leica system dis-plays to be added soon. The motor graders will be fitted with automatic grade control and display by the end of 2012. All of the simulators have multiple lessons that would be used in construction and have specific feedback that is recorded for each operator using the machines. The seven member assembly team will be available to assist the locals uti-lizing the simulators.


A New Bridge Over Troubled Waters

congressional approval Brings Minnesota and Wisconsin together on $633 Million Bridge project


A coNTRovERSIAL BRIDGE project has finally been green-lighted for construction, after decades of twists and turns that threatened to run it into a ditch. Members of Local 49 and Lo-cal 139 will soon be working to replace a dilapidated lift bridge over the St. croix River between Minnesota and wisconsin. Leg-islation designed to facilitate construction of a modern-day span passed congress and was signed into law by President obama on March 14.

Senator Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Representative Ron Kind (D-wI) led the effort to pass legislation exempting the new bridge from the federal wild and Scenic Rivers Act, a neces-sary step to permit construction over the river. The legislation passed unanimously in the Sen-ate and passed the House on a solid bipartisan vote of 339-80. It is believed to be the first-ever waiver given since the wild and Scenic Rivers Act was passed in 1968. The law prohibits federally funded projects that would have “a direct and adverse effect” on “values” of rivers designated wild or scenic.

Terry McGowan, Business Manager of Local 139 in wis-consin said, “we hope we don’t need an act of congress to build every bridge in this country, but this step allows a project to go forward that has been in the works for decades. The project will employ hundreds of Local 139 Members. our whole con-gressional delegation came to-gether and did a great job, but

we particularly want to thank Representatives Ron Kind, Sean Duffy, and Tammy Baldwin for their work.”

The badly needed infrastruc-ture project will not only relieve traffic congestion on both sides of the river, it will bring thou-sands of construction jobs to an area that has been slow to recover from the recession. Fig-ures from the Associated Gen-eral contractors of Minnesota cite more than 50,000 construc-tion jobs lost in the state since its peak in 2006. The proposed bridge will employ an average of 3,000 construction workers for three years, with estimated wag-es for workers of $200 million during the construction phase.

The existing 80-year old, two-lane Stillwater Lift Bridge is functionally obsolete. It was built to handle about 11,000 ve-hicles per day, but the Minne-sota Department of Transpor-tation estimates that now over 18,000 vehicles use the crossing each day. The bridge has also re-ceived a sufficiency rating of 32 out of 100, which is lower than the rating given to the I-35w Bridge in the Twin cities when it crashed into the Mississippi Riv-er in 2007, killing 13 and injuring 145 people.

Plans for the new bridge call for a four-lane, extradosed bridge spanning 4,953 feet between the Minnesota and wisconsin river banks. The extradosed design is frequently described as a cross between a girder bridge and a cable-stayed bridge. This design

will result in fewer piers in the river and a reduced height of the towers above the bridge deck, helping to maintain the scenic quality of the river corridor and mitigating any environmental harm to the river itself.

The project also requires a full complement of highway work, including new approaches and ramps, on both sides of the bridge. This broadens the scope of the overall project and in-creases the number and type of

skilled workers required to bring the project in on time and on budget.

First proposed by federal and state officials in 1995 and having endured countless false starts and setbacks, the saga of replacing the Stillwater Bridge looks to have finally reached a conclusion. Both wisconsin and Minnesota have set aside all of the necessary funding to pay the estimated $633 million cost and no more federal funding is

required. However, in the end, it took an actual “act of congress” to make it a reality.

[previous page]A digital rendition of the new St. Croix crossing will consist of a four-lane, extradosed bridge.Photo: Minnesota Department of Transportation

[above] The Stillwater Lift Bridge has stood for 80 years, but has be-come functionally obsolete and structurally deficient.

“We hope we don’t need an act of Congress to build every bridge in this country...”

—Terry McGowan,Business Manager

of Local 139


politics & legislation

A coNGRESSIoNAL coNFERENcE committee has begun deliberations to find a compromise between House and Senate highway bills. currently, federal transportation programs are funded only through June 30 due to several short-term extensions.

The highway bill is vital, providing billions of dollars to states and communities to build and repair roads, ensure bridges are safe and improve mass transit for millions of commuters. It also sustains millions of construction jobs, where unemployment is still around 15 percent nationwide.

The Senate bill calls for investing $109 billion over two years. In a rare show of bipartisanship, chairman Barbara Boxer (D-cA) and Ranking Member Jim Inhofe (R-oK), of the Environment and Public works committee, led the effort to pass a fully-funded two-year highway bill. The legislation, Moving Ahead for Progress Act in the 21st century (MAP-21), slightly improves current investment levels by delivering $13-billion in new revenues for highway and transit spending.

The bill maintains key priorities for the operating Engineers, including full application of Davis-Bacon prevailing wages. It cuts bureaucracies and programs, streamlines the environmental permitting process, and increases innovative financing for mega-projects. The bill received 74 votes in the Senate, including 22 Republicans.

By contrast, the House bill is little more than a “shell” piece of legislation, extending current funding for another three months. Unlike in the Senate, the House Republican Leadership stubbornly refused to include Democrats in a bipartisan solution to pass a long-term highway bill. However, passage of the “shell bill” was critical to moving the process forward to a conference committee. It also left a number of bad policy provisions on the cutting room floor, including major problems with investments in mass transit.

The House bill does contain a few IUoE supported elements, including approval of the Keystone XL

TRANScANADA, THE coMPANy behind construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, announced May 4 that it is again seeking State Department approval for the project. The pipeline would run 1,700 miles, bringing canadian crude oil from Alberta to Texas and American oil from North Dakota and Montana to the nation’s refineries on the Gulf coast. The company said it had worked out the key issue blocking prior approval of the pipeline, its impact on the large underground ogallala aquifer in Nebraska, by finding a new route around it.

The IUoE has consistently backed construction of the pipeline and Transcanada has stated that they intend to stick by its original project labor agreement, signed two years ago, to have union workers—from the operating Engineers, Electrical workers, Laborers, Plumbers and Pipefitters, and Teamsters—build Keystone XL.

“IUoE shares Transcanada’s determination to see Keystone XL built and fully supports its decision to reapply for a federal permit,” General President James callahan said. “It’s time to put politics aside and put thousands of construction workers back to work,” he added. It’s estimated that Keystone construction would create 20,000 high-quality jobs, including about 4,000 IUoE jobs.

Despite the denial of project’s original permit in January, progress on the Keystone XL pipeline has continued. In March, Transcanada announced plans to start construction of the “Southern leg” of the project from cushing, oklahoma to Port Arthur, Texas. That roughly 500-mile segment does not require State Department approval. Upon completion, it will eliminate the supply glut at the key oil hub in cushing, and the company plans to begin work on those spreads later this summer.

Significant progress has also been made on

Pipeline and a commitment to increase dredging of the nation’s harbors, ports, and waterways.

Industry representatives believe it is more likely that the Senate’s positions will prevail in the conference committee negotiations. Given the bipartisan support for the two-year bill in the Senate, the House is not in a strong negotiating position. But House negotiators will not walk in empty handed. They are expected to make every effort to promote domestic energy production and the Keystone XL Pipeline.

No higher job-creation priority exists for operating Engineers than passage of the highway bill. The number of jobs created for heavy equipment operators in this legislation dwarfs any other single piece of legislation that congress considers.

Updates on the highway bill’s progress can be found at www.iuoe.org

Progress Made on Highway Bill as Another Deadline Draws Near

TransCanada Resubmits Keystone XL Application

the route realignment in Nebraska. The state is conducting its own environmental review on the new, 100-mile reroute, and expects to complete the analysis in about six months. In turn, these positive developments prompted Transcanada to reapply with the State Department for a Presidential Permit for the section of the pipeline that will cross the U.S.-canadian border.

“The operating Engineers strongly encourage the State Department and other relevant agencies to aggressively implement President Barack obama’s March executive order to approve this project as

quickly as possible,” General President callahan said. “After three years of study and significant environmental improvement, after the rerouting of the pipeline around the sensitive Sandhills area of Nebraska, it is beyond time to approve this.”

callahan noted that even in the height of construction season, when contractors should be adding jobs, they instead cut another 28,000. “Keystone XL offers game-changing potential to the sector hardest hit by the recession and where the unemployment rate is still near 14%. operating Engineers are among the most highly trained and skilled pipeline workers in the world. Their expertise will ensure that Keystone is built right, built safe and built to last,” he declared.


Election 2012: Special Series

Willard “Mitt” romney, republican candidate for president

GovERNoR MITT RoMNEy, the presumptive Republican Party nominee for President in 2012, received his undergraduate degree from Brigham young University and both his law degree and MBA from Harvard University. After graduating from Harvard, Romney immediately began his career in business consulting and the financial sector.

Romney made his huge personal fortune working at Bain capital, a venture capital firm. His estimated net worth is $190 to $250 million, according to his 2010 tax returns. over the years Romney has failed to disclose many of the details about his financial holdings, including the family’s possession of a Swiss bank account and other investments in low-tax havens, like the cayman Islands and Bermuda, which are used by wealthy people to avoid or reduce their fair share of taxes.

Bain capital and “Vulture capitalism”

Bain capital often maximized returns for Romney and other investors by firing workers, seeking government subsidies, and flipping companies quickly for large profits. Sometimes Bain investors gained profits even when companies slid into bankruptcy.

In 1992, Bain acquired Ampad, a company in Indiana. Two years later they fired all 258 of their employees, allowing most of them to reapply for their jobs at reduced wages and benefits. In early 1995, the company demanded more concessions from the union at their Marion, Indiana plant. when the employees refused and went on strike, the company closed the plant and laid-off all of its 240 workers.

GSI Industries, another company acquired by Bain capital, eventually went bankrupt and more than 700 workers were laid off—losing not only their jobs, but health insurance, severance and a chunk of their pension benefits. The partners at Bain capital made a 100% gain on their investment.

During the Republican presidential primaries, Governor Rick Perry of Texas called this brand of economics “vulture capitalism,” as Bain would pick at the bones of companies that they would help kill.

Mitt Romney supports political and economic policies that weaken unions, hurt working people, and muzzle workers’ voices on the job.

Mitt romney on Union Issues

• Supports a national right to Work law — “right to work is the right way to go and i’d like to see it at the national level.” (Detroit Free Press, 2/19/12)

• Vows to repeal Davis-Bacon act prevailing Wages “if i become President…i will fight to repeal Davis-Bacon!” (speech to the Associated Builders and Contractors, Phoenix, AZ (3/7/12)

• Will prohibit project labor agreements — “if i be-come President, on day one i will end government’s favoritism towards unions and contracting on federal projects and end Project Labor Agreements.” (speech to the Associated Builders and Contractors, Phoenix, AZ (3/7/12)

• Wants to Eliminate the national labor relations Board — “The National Labor relations Board is now

stacked with union stooges selected by the President.” (The Hill, 1/5/12) richard griffin, the former general Coun-sel to the iuoe, is a member of the National Labor rela-tions Board.

• romney has been endorsed by the associated Build-ers and contractors (aBc) — the largest anti-union contractor association in the country.

Barack Obama, Democratic candidate for president

PRESIDENT BARAcK oBAMA came into office riding a wave of unparalleled expectations and facing an unrivaled economic crisis. He inherited an economy from President Bush that was losing 750,000 jobs a month. President obama took immediate action and passed the largest economic stimulus and jobs program in history which saved or created 3.6 million jobs. During his first term, he also tackled other big issues. He championed comprehensive health insurance reform, expanding coverage and arresting skyrocketing costs. He even took on wall Street, reforming a system that was rigged in favor of the same wealthy insiders who put our entire economy on the brink of collapse.

Speaking at a recent meeting of the Building & construction Trades Department, President obama declared, “I’m not a perfect president.” No one can ever

be perfect, but President obama has worked hard in the face of great challenges and accomplished many good things for operating engineers and other working people in this country.

president Obama has earned the endorsement of the IUOE, aFl-cIO, the Building & construction trades Department and other major unions.

Managing the Economic crisis

• President obama pushed through Congress the $787 bil-lion American recovery and reinvestment Act, the larg-est economic stimulus and jobs program in history. The President’s recovery Act provided over $100-billion in funding for the struggling construction industry, which included investments in highway, transit, high-speed rail, school construction, and clean-energy projects.

• Just days into his first term, President obama implement-ed an executive order to encourage federal agencies to use project labor agreements, revoking President Bush’s order that had prohibited PLAs.

• President obama led the federal effort to rescue the domestic auto industry, overcoming the opposition of many, including mitt romney, who claimed it would be better to “let Detroit fail.” Because of President obama’s leadership, the u.s. auto industry has added back 160,000 jobs — the fastest pace of auto job growth since 1998. many iuoe members work in these plants.

Jobs, Wages, and Standards

• The obama Administration mandated prevailing wage requirements on sewer and water projects, clean and renewable energy programs, and the first nuclear power plant to be permitted in thirty years which receive federal funding or federal loan guarantees.

• President obama’s appointees to the National Labor re-lations Board (NLrB) are taking steps to level the playing field for workers who want to exercise their rights in the workplace. one of those appointees is richard griffin, for-mer general Counsel to the international union of oper-ating engineers.

• The obama Administration dramatically stepped up enforcement by osHA to protect worker safety and the wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor in-creased enforcement and compliance activity to protect worker safety, wages, and working conditions.

Workers’ rights

• The President took many important steps administra-tively to protect workers’ rights, like prohibiting federal contractors from using government funds to block union organizing; requiring federal contractors to post a notice informing workers of their right to form and join unions; and guaranteeing that workers can keep their jobs when a federal contract for services changes hands.

Phot

o: Je

wel

Sam

ad/A

FP

Photo: Larry Dow

ning/Reuters


“One of the first things I’ll do —actually on day one—is I will end the government’s favoritism towards unions in contracting on federal proj-ects and end project labor agreements, and I will fight to repeal the Davis-Bacon Act.”“And I will fight for right-to-work laws.”

“I believe our economy is stronger when workers are getting paid good wages and good benefits.” “Because the right to organize and negotiate a fair pay for hard work should be the right of every American – from the CEO in the corner office to the worker in the hard hat who built that office.”

Quote: President Barack Obama speaking to delegates at the Building & Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO conference on April 30, 2012. Photo: Emily Johnson

Quote: Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney speaking to delegates at the Associ-ated Builders & Contractors convention on February 22, 2012. Photo: Paul Sancya/AP

Election 2012: Special Series


The Transbay Transit center project in downtown San Francisco is referred to as the west coast’s “Grand central Station.” The $4 billion project will replace the old terminal at First and Mission streets with a new hub, connecting eight counties through ten transit systems. However, the underground aspect of the project has remained somewhat of a mystery.

Extending caltrain and california High-Speed Rail underground into the new center presents more than a few engineering challenges, since the terminal will be built five stories below ground, with trains running below the massive 50-story Millennium Building, home to San Francisco’s rich and famous.

To protect the integrity of the well-known high-rise, Becho, Inc., a Local 3 signatory that specializes in foundation work, was called in to maximize time and space and minimize disruption to the jobsite and area residents.

“we are basically taking the existing earth soil and replacing it with concrete,” said Becho Project Manager Rusty Lucido, son of former company owner Lou Lucido (1979-2011) and brother of one of the project’s crane operators, Anthony Lucido.

To do this, Becho must slowly excavate

Operators Going Underground in SFOTransbay Terminal is largest drill-shaft project in North America

255 feet (50,000 linear feet), 7 feet at a time. The 30 crewmembers must drill 207 shafts, starting 60 feet below ground, using four rotators and three Liebherr cranes. The casings are 2,200 millimeters in diameter, weigh 30,000 pounds each and are bolted together in 25-foot-long sections for a total weight of 330,000 pounds. But the astounding specifications don’t stop there. The shafts actually overlap 12 inches to keep material from compromising the shoring wall, and 33 of the shafts along the front and back row of the wall include 70,000-pound rebar cages.

If these figures aren’t daunting enough, consider the actual process, which is an engineering marvel all its own. The crane places the casing in a rotator, while acting as a counter-weight. The rotator then uses 5.5 million pounds of torque to screw and rotate the casing as hydraulic jacks pull the casing into the earth. During the rotation, the crane uses a clamshell attachment to grab the dirt out of the middle of the casing, so casings are installed and material is excavated at the same time. Eventually, the casings are pulled up and concrete is pumped underground to replace the extracted material.

[left]Crane Operator Mark Pow-ell and Darren Crawford (on manlift) add a section of tremie pipe for the concrete pour.Photo: Dominique Beilke

[right]Artist rendition of Trans-bay Terminal.Illustration: Transbay Joint Powers Authority

Feature


In other words, there’s a lot going on at this small plot of land behind the Millennium Building, called the “sandbox,” and there’s even more going on below ground.

As crews drill, they run into water, concrete, metal – obstructions left over from the old terminal and an-cient reminders of the Bay Area’s past. operators can-not overlap the casings if the concrete is too hard or too soft, so the concrete must continuously be tested. They must also constantly turn the rotators so that too much pressure doesn’t cause them to seize.

The crew is also working on a tight deadline. Be-cause of strict noise-impact restrictions, most of the work must be done during the day. Still, crews work six days a week, 24 hours a day, taking only christmas off, and even then, someone has to come in to turn the ro-tators.

[left]Balfour Beatty Operator Ronnie Blankinship assists Becho by removing spoils.

[above]From left: Apprentice Ashleigh Hodoh, Rec. Corres. Secretary Jim Sullivan and Vice President Carl Goff.

[right]Crane Operator Anthony Lucido extracts material from a shaft. Photos: Dominique Beilke

In spite of a grueling schedule, when the project is completed next April, members will be masters of a spe-cial line of work that only a limited number of operators can perform. “This is the largest drill-shaft contract in North America,” said Rusty Lucido. This job will literally put these operators on the map – and they know it.

They are perfecting a new frontier of shoring, and they are doing it well. The drilled shafts are tested ev-ery 10 feet for deviation, and the project specifications consider up to 12 inches out of verticality as acceptable. These operators have been off verticality an average of just 2 inches and have gotten a reading as good as 0.3 inches in 255 feet!

“That’s unbelievable,” said Local 3 vice President carl Goff, who toured the job with Local 3 Recording corresponding Secretary Jim Sullivan in late April. Sul-livan worked for Becho from 1982-1987 in Utah. Both

officers were amazed at the dif-ferent soil conditions and debris the members drill through – more than 77,000 gallons of water per shaft – and the precision they do it with.

The crew is a mix of young and old, some local and some out-of-state, and though they are tired, they are happy. They are mak-ing good money with no time to spend it and see themselves like family. They work together, live together and when time allows, they play together.

“Becho is the best company there is,” said chris Howells, who has been with the company for 33 years. “operators’ kids grew up with us, and now they are operators – more like a family.”

The company really is family for 22-year-old crane operator Anthony Lucido, who has worked for his dad since high school. “It’s awesome. I love it,” he said. “we have a lot going on here – so fast, so big; it’s like playing football, the Super Bowl of drilling.”

For Lead Mechanic Jason Handlen, his decision to get on a plane from washington and join Becho “was a life-changing flight.” Since the equipment he services is so rare and designed out of the country, he has had to perfect a “learn-as-you-go system,” and his skills have proven invaluable to the project’s success.

In 1979, Lou Lucido started Becho with $300 and a pick-up truck. He could never have imagined that al-most 35 years later, his company would be working on a $50 million project for a nationally known terminal.

“Becho packs a big punch,” said night-shift Supervi-sor Frank Prosser.

Article: Mandy McMillen


the analogy of a “right-to-work-out” law to explain how ridiculous this is: Such a law, they noted, would prevent health clubs from forcing people to pay dues or membership fees to use the equipment, services and facilities. Gyms and health clubs would have to admit everybody, even those who never paid a cent. In other words, “right-to-work-out” laws would allow everybody to get all the benefits of health club membership absolutely free! How cool is that?

No evidence for ‘right to work’

Aside from the inherent unfairness of right-to-work laws, there’s ample re-search on how bad they are for workers

and the broader economy. To site just a few examples: workers in right-to-work states earn about $1,500 less per year than workers in other states; they are less likely to be covered by employer-sponsored health insurance or pen-sions; and their workplaces have higher rates of death and injury. For every $1 million decline in workers’ wages, six jobs are lost, according to research from the Economic Policy Institute.

In a report done for EPI, econo-mist Gordon Lafer wrote: “In Indiana and elsewhere, large sums of money have been devoted to backing RTw bills, with lobbyists claiming that RTw significantly improves both the number of jobs in a state and the wages people earn because companies that had avoided the state will flock there. The evidence shows that these claims are completely without scientific founda-

IN ToDAy’S EcoNoMy, with high unemployment and even higher under-employment, who wouldn’t want the “right to work”? Put another way, the right to work at good jobs is really what the country needs to continue down the path to economic recovery. So what does that necessity—more good jobs—have to do with so-called right-to-work laws that are popping up in state leg-islatures around the country? Almost nothing, although you wouldn’t know it from all the fantastic claims made by the well-funded backers of this legisla-tion.

“Right to work” has a nice feel-good ring, but that obscures what it means in practice. The basic thing to realize is that right to work is not about worker freedom, competi-tive business climates, fairness or any other lofty claims. It is really about limiting workers’ collective voices and driving down wages; in other words, it ultimately hurts the middle class.

Right-to-work laws date back to the 1947 Taft-Hartley amendments to the National Labor Relations Act. Taft-Hartley allowed states to make it illegal for unions and employers to bargain agreements that required all workers represented by a union to pay dues. Since then, 23 states (including Indiana last year) have passed such laws. However, that doesn’t release the union from its legal requirement to represent all workers, whether they pay dues or not.

There is plenty of disagreement on the impact of right-to-work legisl-tion on a state’s economy. (More on that shortly.) But one clear result is that such laws lead to lower rates of unionization. with a weaker collective voice, it becomes that much harder for workers to bargain effectively and bring more balance to labor-management re-lations that are already stacked against them.

IUoE Local 49 in Minnesota used

‘right to work’ is wrong for everyoneMeasures’ biggest impact is to reduce wages and workers’ voice

For more on right-to-work laws and to download the flyer above, visit www.wrongforeveryone.com

tion.” other recent studies reach the same conclusion.

Research by Lafer and Sylvia Al-legretto about oklahoma, which in 2001 became the first state in 25 years to adopt a right-to-work law, found “no significant positive impact whatsoever on employment.” In fact, they found, both the number of companies relocat-ing to oklahoma and the total number of manufacturing jobs in the state fell by about a third after the law was passed.

The idea that right-to-work laws are needed to protect workers’ rights is also misguided. our opponents don’t like to acknowledge it, but unions are

democratic organizations. If the members don’t like the way things are going, they can elect new lead-ers, vote down contracts and even opt to decertify. No one can be re-quired to join a union or pay dues to support causes they disagree with. yet, unions still provide free representation, even for members who haven’t paid dues.

The same can’t be said of the chamber of commerce, one of the most aggressive backers of the

right-to-work notion. The chamber would, and has, refused to serve the interests of companies that don’t pay membership dues.

when an employer in Kentucky asked if it could maintain its member-ship without paying dues, the owens-boro chamber replied: “It would be against chamber by-laws and policy to consider any organization or business a member without dues being paid. The vast majority of the chamber’s annual revenues come from member dues, and it would be unfair to the other members to allow an organization not paying dues to be included in member benefits.” That’s probably not some-thing you’ll hear them say when they are pushing Republican-controlled leg-islatures to jump on the right-to-work bandwagon.

False Claims, False Promises: Why “Right to Work” Is Wrong for Everyone

Across the country, workers are facing a barrage of legislative attacks on their rights to form unions and bargain collectively, including so-called right-to-work legislation. Right-to-work laws make it optional for workers covered by a union contract to help pay for the expenses that the union incurs while protecting the rights of all employees. Contrary to claims from its supporters, right to work offers no protection or economic benefits for workers. In fact, studies show that these deceptively titled laws drive down wages, benefits, and overall living standards for everyone. And research reveals that right-to-work laws do not create jobs or improve a state’s business climate.

Read on to learn why right to work is wrong for workers, businesses, and our economy.

Wrong for workers

These laws drive down wages for all workers, including non-union members, women, and people of color. Workers living in right-to-work states earn about $1,500 less per year than workers in states without these laws. The wage penalty is even higher for women and workers of color.www.epi.org/publication/bp299

Workers in right-to-work states are less likely to have health insurance. The rate of employer-sponsored health insurance for workers in right-to-work states is 2.6 percentage points lower than in states without these restrictions.www.epi.org/publication/bp299

Right to work makes workplaces more dangerous. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the rate of workplace deaths is 52.9 percent higher in right-to-work states. www.aflcio.org/issues/safety/memorial/upload/dotj_2010.pdf

Wrong for businesses

Right-to-work laws do not improve business conditions in states.www.bepress.com/rle/vol5/iss1/art25

Right to work is not a deciding factor in where businesses locate. www.areadevelopment.com/AnnualReports/jan2011/25th-annual-corporate-executive-survey48843.shtml

High-tech companies that provide good-paying, American jobs favor states where unions have a strong presence, because unions provide a highly skilled workforce and decrease turnover.www.itif.org/files/2010-state-new-economy-index.pdf

Wrong for the economy

Communities lose jobs when wages are lowered by right to work. The Economic Policy Institute estimates that for every $1 million in wage cuts, the local economy sheds six jobs.www.epi.org/publication/working-hard-indiana-bad-tortured-uphill

Right to work does not improve the employment rate. In fact, eight of the 12 states with the highest unemployment have right-to-work laws.www.bls.gov/web/laus/laumstrk.htm

According to a report from Ohio University, these laws actually led to a decrease in employment in certain industries.econpapers.repec.org/article/sejancoec/v_3a73_3a2_3ay_3a2006_3ap_3a402-418.htm

Right-to-work proponents are wrong

Right-to-work supporters falsely claim that right to work protects workers who don’t want to join a union or disagree with a union’s politics. But federal labor law already protects workers who don’t want to join a union or make political contributions.

Right to work’s true purpose is to hurt the ability of unions to advocate for all workers and serve as a check on corporate greed.

Learn more about right to work and get involved at www.wrongforeveryone.com.

Right-to-work

Article: American Teacher (May/June 2012)© American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIOReprinted with permission


prOtEct yOUr rIGht tO VOtE

Are You registered to Vote?

Are You Sure?sometimes people have their names purged from the voter list by mistake and are not informed. sometimes county clerk’s offices make clerical errors. if this

happens to you, your ability to vote this year could be compromised.

if you have any doubts, we recommend that you re-register to vote.

For more information, contact your iuoe local office or visit:

www.nonprofitvote.org

International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO

25 iNTerNATioNAL oPerATiNg eNgiNeer

international union of operating engineers 1125 17th street, Nwwashington, DC 20036

Printed in the u.s.A.

NoN ProFiT orgus PosTAge

PAiDKeLLY Press, iNC.

operating engineer · 6 international operating engineer smmer 2012 7 education & t raining...

Documents