May Your Homes Be Filled with the Joy of the Christmas Season. Here's
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OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL UNION No. 3 Vol. 74, #12/DECEMBER 2015 May your homes be filled with the joy of the Christmas season. Here’s wishing you a merry Christmas and Happy New Year! NEW THIS MONTH Enjoy a holiday message from the Local 3 5 .......................... Looking at Labor officers. 6 ............................Financial Report 11 ...... From the Financial Secretary 14 .............Kings Downtown Arena 22 ... Honoring Membership Service May your homes be filled with the EVERY MONTH joy of the Christmas season. Here’s 4 .............................. News & Notes wishing you a merry Christmas 8 ..................Public Employee News and Happy New Year! 10 ..............................Credit Union 11 ......................................Unit 12 12 ........................................ RMTC 13 ..................Fringe Benefits/ATPA 16 .......................... District Reports 26 ......Meetings & Announcements 30 ............................. Health News 31 ................................ Swap Shop FROM THE DISTRICTS PAGE 20 OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL UNION NO. 3 Russ Burns Business Manager Dan Reding President There continues to be work for members in Fairfield District 04 with large paving jobs, such as the I-80/I-680 interchange project, above. Find out more Pete Figueiredo Vice President about what work is going on in this month's District Report. Jim Sullivan Rec. Corres. Secretary Steve Ingersoll Financial Secretary Justin Diston Treasurer PAGE 21 ENGINEERS NEWS STAFF Russ Burns Editor Mandy McMillen Managing Editor John Matos Associate Editor Ian Bright Art Director www.oe3.org Engineers News (ISSN 1069-2185) is published monthly by Local 3 of the International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO; 1620 South Loop Rd., Alameda, CA 94502. Periodical postage paid at Alameda, CA and additional Members like Excavator Operator Feliciano Cardenas, above, work on the mailing offices. Engineers News is sent without charge to all members of Valley Fire cleanup project for Pacific States Environmental in Middletown. Read Operating Engineers Local 3 in good standing. Non-member subscription how Local 3 partnered with our contractors and Cal Fire to ensure well-trained price is $6 per year. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Address Change, crews could assist the communities in Rohnert Park District 10. 1620 South Loop Rd., Alameda, CA 94502. 2 | Engineers News A brief rundown of 2015 Many of us have a lot to celebrate at the end of the year, notable successes this year, as some units are finally and hopefully that means gathering with your families receiving some increases after enduring takeaways since around a good meal and remembering all of the things that the Great Recession. For instance, Plumas County members bring us closer. I wish you all the best for the holidays and banded together in force filling every single board meeting throughout the new year. As we gear-up for 2016 with a since June in an effort to secure a raise. (The unit has not had renewed plan for success, it’s worth looking at the big events one since 2007!) of this past year. In similar fashion, nearly 500 Testing and Inspection The year 2015 started with a bang, as the high-profile members came together this year over five ratification High Speed Rail project broke ground in early January in meetings for the Council of Engineers and Laboratory downtown Fresno (District 50). Members and staff attended Employers, Inc. (CELE) agreement, and many of them had the monumental event and even signed a portion of the never been to a union meeting before. The result was a good rail, symbolizing the start of the nearly $68 billion project agreement and a powerful illustration of what happens that will employ an estimated 20,000 construction workers when we come together. throughout its lifetime. Surveyors in the outlying counties of California in Butte, Other big projects of the year included the ongoing Nevada, Sutter and Yuba enjoyed sizable increases this year construction of the $4.6 billion Transbay Terminal in thanks to the data gathered by your staff proving that the Burlingame District 01, which has skyrocketed an already union rate should be the prevailing rate for field surveyors booming construction climate in the Bay Area. The continued in those counties. construction of the Honolulu Rail project in Hawaii from At the time of this writing, our Unit 12 members are West Oahu to Ala Moana has also helped District 17 enjoy a involved in some difficult negotiations with the state. As massive increase in construction, and the district is reporting the details of their agreements unfold, we will let you know a 20 percent increase in work hours at the time of this writing. more. This year, the severe drought in California became a As is always the case, years are marked with good and national discussion. Labor responded to the crisis by helping bad memories, and one of our worst was the political attacks to implement many projects related to the conservation against Nevada’s middle class during the state’s legislative and containment of the precious resource. Recycled-water session this past year. Senate Bill (SB) 119, which was signed pipeline jobs, dam-removal, maintenance and construction, into law by Gov. Brian Sandoval on March 6, exempted and water-treatment-plant upgrades have been a big source school construction projects from prevailing-wage laws. of employment for our members this year. Other cowardly attempts to decimate Nevada’s middle class The drought also made areas more susceptible to fires. were also waged in the political arena in 2015, however, we Members in Rohnert Park District 10 and Stockton District took none of this sitting down and were able to halt some 30 were impacted the most by the Butte and Lake County of these efforts directly and lessen the blow for others. We fires, as many lost homes or joined forces to provide relief spearheaded a massive outreach campaign in the state that and cleanup of the devastation. Many other districts were brought us together, made us stronger and prepared us to affected as well. face whatever political battles lie ahead in the 2016 election As the International Union of Operating Engineers year. (IUOE) made focusing on apprenticeship programs a goal It has always been this administration’s policy to for 2015, we certainly did our part, as we have continued meet problems head-on and handle them with integrity to make progress at our new training site off of Meiss Road and transparency. This year, we continued to update the in Sacramento County. Preparation for crane-training has membership about the Slack and Mahoe lawsuits here and been ongoing, and many training classes were held at the on the Members Only portion of our website (www.oe3.org). new site this year. Utah District 12 continued its successful We have emphasized the fact that we have nothing to hide in-house training for Heavy Duty Repair (HDR) and Lube and that slanderous, politically motivated lawsuits such as Service Tech (LST) apprentices, as well as holding an annual these will be dealt with and dismissed accordingly. Apprenticeship meeting in the fall. This year, training Clearly the membership stands behind us, as your officers centers in Nevada and Hawaii also continued to thrive. and Executive Board members were elected unopposed and This past year brought a renewed dedication to the sworn-in during a special-called meeting in September. cornerstone of our industry, organizing, as our districts This union has been my life and the life of my family for welcomed aboard some tenacious organizers and attended a generations, as my grandfather, father and sons are Local 3 week-long training put on by the IUOE to discuss some new members. I can’t honestly remember a time in my life when top-down techniques and compare strategies with IUOE I wasn’t thinking about, talking about or working for Local locals across the western United States and even in Canada. 3. There is no greater honor than to serve the membership of Landmark organizing campaigns, such as the successful one this strong union. spearheaded for a 57-member unit from Waste Management For a photo gallery highlighting some of the memorable in Woodland, resulted in the opportunity for new members jobs of this year, please visit our website, and for a look- to pursue the wages and job security they deserve. In total, ahead, read my column in next month’s edition. Please 72 new employers signed this year with Local 3. enjoy the holidays with your families, and remember: It is Our public employee members have enjoyed some a great time to be an Operating Engineer … today and tomorrow! December 2015 | 3 WWW.OE3.ORG Want more Operating Engineers news? Visit Local 3’s website at www.oe3.org for some exclusive features we only post online. Changes to Engineers News Maybe you’ve had your photo taken for the Engineers Commitment to News at a jobsite, meeting or event, but never saw that photo printed in the publication. With the limited space of apprenticeship continues just 32 pages a month, it’s impossible to run every photo. Local 3 purchased 1,500 acres in Sacramento County in 2013 They do often find their way to our website, however, and to eventually replace the current training site at the Rancho to make our readers aware of this, starting next month, Murieta Training Center (RMTC), but it hasn’t necessarily been we will feature an icon on certain articles to indicate that an easy transition. additional photos are available online, such as the one of Every little bird, tiny red-legged bug, blue-bellied lizard, Giovanni, Tony and Tony Carrillo at a recent semi, and long-horned elderberry beetle, or whatever else you can think of, Charles Huckaba, on the job below.