July 2018 Engineers News
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OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL 3 WWW.OE3.ORG Vol. 76 #7/JULY 2018 fifty-year members honored Retirees Enjoy the Good Life at Dixon Picnic Election Notice See page 27 for important information regarding the 2018 election of Officers and Executive Board Members. ON THE COVER Congratulations to all of our 50-year honorees, including 16 those able to attend last month’s Retiree Picnic, featured here. The other photos featured are from projects throughout the year these honorees joined, 1968. See coverage of the Retiree Picnic here, and visit our online gallery at www.oe3.org. (A complete list of 50-year honorees is available on pages 14-15.) 18 ALSO INSIDE Public Employee News Janus 08 information The Supreme Court’s decision about Janus may not have 08 gone the way we wanted, but Local 3’s Public Employee 26 Department is proactively handling the situation. Read about it here and get the details on some of our standout Public Employee members and contracts. 10 28th Annual Surveyors Competition This year’s competition had the biggest turnout ever and 10 some of the best talent the Northern California Surveyors Joint Apprenticeship Committee (NCSJAC) has ever seen. See some of the winners and read about how these apprentices got their start in one of Local 3’s most lucrative and growing professions. Local 3 Hawaii Primary Election Recommendations Hawaii’s Primary Election is Aug. 11. Be prepared by 10 12 checking out Local 3’s recommendations for this election here and online. Then use these recommendations, when you cast your vote! OE3 JATC Top Hand Competition: Sept. 8 Apprentices and journey-level operators: Show off your 18 skills at the Operating Engineers Local 3 Journeyman and Apprenticeship Training Center’s (OE3 JATC’s) first equipment competition. Winners may compete against Local 12 at a later competition. Get the details now. Scholarship Winners Local 3’s families have some talented kids. See the standout 26 students who were chosen as this year’s Operating Engineers Local 3 Scholarship Foundation winners. These achievers earn up to $15,000 toward their college tuition. OPERATING ENGINEERS LOCAL UNION NO. 3 16 Russ Burns Business Manager 18 Dan Reding President Steve Ingersoll Vice President 12 Jim Sullivan Rec. Corres. Secretary 08 Justin Diston Financial Secretary Dave Harrison Treasurer 16 ENGINEERS NEWS STAFF Russ Burns Editor Mandy McMillen Managing Editor John Matos Associate Editor Salvador Cid III BUG Graphic Artist 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 Oakland, CA and additional mailing offices. Engineers News is sent without charge to all members of Operating Engineers Local 3 in good standing. Non-member subscription price is $6 per year. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Address Change, 1620 South Loop Rd., Alameda, CA 94502. 2 ENGINEERS NEWS JULY 2018 3 For the This Month in NEWS& GOOD& Local 3 History Fifty years ago this month, in 1968, theEngineers News reported WELFARE on the dedication of the highest earth-filled dam in the world, NOTES By Russ Burns, business manager By Dan Reding, president Oroville Dam. California Gov. Ronald Reagan performed the dedication, and four days of celebration followed. The project When we honor our Retirees, we honor the union officially began with a dynamite blast for the first diversion tunnel No substitute for training and in 1961. For the next seven years, thousands of Local 3 construction experience I’ve been attending the Retiree Picnics since before I joined been working at the Oroville Dam spillway repair job under the workers would come to Oroville to be part of the history happening the Local 3 staff in 1994. Over time, many Retirees have become Retiree Work Addendum. His family came to support him at there, and many would stay. Their tasks were huge, as they weren’t only building a At the time of this writing, I’ve just returned from the the people I used to work with on jobs, and as retirement comes the picnic, including his grandson, Jake, and his granddaughter, 770-foot-high dam International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) closer to me, I realize I will one day be at these picnics, not as Karina, who rushed up to the stage to hug him after he received but also canals, Convention. This was my third time attending an International the one handing out the 50-year watches and clocks, but as the his watch. bridges, roads, Convention, which is held every five years, but Local 3 has one receiving these awards. Time has a funny way of making you At the meeting, I made special mention of the Retirees’ tunnels, railroads, been sending delegates, staff and Executive Board members reflective and grateful for the memories you have. The Retiree spouses, as so many members tell me how during their entire two powerhouses, to these conventions for over 50 years, ensuring that OE3 is Picnic is and has always been one of my favorite events, so please careers, their spouses woke up before they did to pack their a forebay and an represented when changes are made to the IUOE Constitution read more about it and see some pictures of those honored lunches and get the coffee going for them. Again that’s why this afterbay. From and resolutions are passed. throughout this edition and on our website at www.oe3.org. is family! 1963 to 1967, three 40-car trains This was by far the most educational convention I’ve When this year’s 50-year members joined Local 3, it was To all of our Retirees, thank you for what you put into this attended. Political issues that directly affect our work were 1968, and we were in the middle of the Vietnam War, the most union, so we could all enjoy what we have today. As more and continuously traveled day and discussed, and representatives from other locals across the expensive and deadliest year of that conflict. In 1968, the average more members join the ranks of our Retirees, we continue United States and Canada learned how to handle attacks cost of a new house was $14,950 and the average income per to recruit and train the next generation, and our Operating night between the borrow area and on prevailing wages and so-called right-to-work laws. The year was $7,850. Gas cost $0.34 a gallon, and a new car was only Engineers Local 3 Journeyman and Apprentice Training Center the dam. While miners holed through the 35-foot tunnel that was convention is also where the IUOE General President is $2,822. Local 3’s Fringe Benefits Center opened its doors for (OE3 JATC) is doing a stellar job at this. For example, in 2012, to divert the Feather River out of its bed and around the dam site, elected, along with International Vice Presidents and Trustees. the first time, and the iconic Oroville Dam, which is currently the OE3 JATC trained 1,277 students, and last year, that number gold was discovered, and workers used their hardhats to collect it Business Manager Russ Burns was re-elected as the Second being repaired after last year’s rains compromised its main and soared to 2,388 and continues to grow this year. during their lunch breaks. Though much has been written on the Vice President, an extreme honor, which reflects the amount emergency spillways, was finished. Wages were raised that year As the demand for skilled Operating Engineers continues spillway’s failure last year, the feat of the dam and spillway’s original of respect Russ receives from the General President and the to $6.16 an hour for a crane operator, $6 for a blade operator to grow, we are also holding Recruitment Fairs to cover the construction should not be forgotten. Today, hundreds of Local 3 business managers of all IUOE locals. and $4.62 for an oiler. The union staunchly supported President California areas of Stockton, Oakland and Sacramento, and members work to repair and reinforce the original spillway that I’ve recently heard complaints from some regarding the eroded last February, yet another enormous undertaking requiring Lyndon B. Johnson, who spoke at the International Convention have had over 100 new recruits show up to each of these events. cost of sending our delegates to the International Convention that year. Many are getting dispatched. (KCRA Channel 3 covered the incredible engineering. Stay tuned for more about the original dam’s history and the project currently underway to repair it. and accusations that too many staff members were sent. The Times are much different today, in terms of the living wage Sacramento event during its primetime news section, and number of delegates and staff and the cost of sending them is union members enjoy, the politics we deal with and the the Sacramento Bee also did a detailed write-up to publicize governed by Local 3’s Bylaws, as these conventions include increases in the costs of living. What hasn’t changed, at least for the event.) Receiving good press and being active in our Patriotic spirit was on display over Memorial important classes and training on our Health and Welfare and Local 3 members, is their steadfast loyalty to the union that has communities only builds us up in organizing, membership and Pension Funds. Attending them is part of the regular training protected them. Just ask the Retirees who attended the recent political power. Day weekend when crews working on the Oroville and education our staff receives so they can better serve our Retiree Picnic last month.