Business Manager Allan B. Darr announces his retirement

Allan B. Darr, Business Manager of International Union of Operating Engineers Local 302, has announced that he will retire, effective Sept. 3, 2008.

2008 Top Hand winners

The 2008 Top Hand Competition was held June 14 at the Operating Engineers Regional Training Center in Ellensburg, WA, as hundreds of IUOE members and their families enjoyed the fun, food and a beautiful day.

The 2008 Top Hand winners were: Lattice Crane-Dan Madden; Hydraulic Crane-Greg Hogan; Forklift-Randy Bruhn; Excavator-Robert Bryant; Loader-Bill Scipper; and Backhoe and Dozer-Vince Gorley.  Congratulations to all the winners and other competitors and we'll see you in Ellensburg again in 2009!

Employer Trustees block pension benefit increase again

Employer Trustees for the Locals 302 and 612 of the IUOE Construction Industry Retirement Trust have again declined to support a benefit increase for the plan's participants proposed by the plan's Union Trustees.  Independent actuaries have found that the Trust is sufficiently funded that several proposed benefit increases supported by Union Trustees would not negatively affect the plan’s solvency.  But at the Trustees’ most recent quarterly meeting on June 9, Employer Trustees again refused all proposed increases.

For more information about the status of the pension's funding and the effort to restore benefits to pre-2002 levels, see the cover story from the 2nd Quarter edition of the Loadline.

Download the latest Loadline

The Second Quarter 2008 edition of Operating Engineers Local 302's Loadline magazine has been printed and mailed to members.  Download it! (3MB PDF)

"I've been very pleased with the positive feedback we've been getting from members about the new, improved Loadline," said IUOE 302 Business Manager Allan B. Darr.  "I think we are accomplishing our goal of better informing rank-and-file members about the work we do, and raising our visibility among our signatory contractors, as well as those non-union companies we are recruiting."

The new Loadline includes a cover story about the financial condition of our pension plan and how it compares to other unions' plans.  This issue also has updates on the Laborers union's unsuccessful attempts to take IUOE Local 302's trade assignments, our 2008 scholarship winners, plus reports from each of Local 302's districts in Alaska and Washington, national union news, election and legislative information from both states, and much more, including many photographs of our members at work.

The Loadline is published quarterly.  Between editions, get your Local 302 news right here at www.iuoe302.org.

Nominations for officers' elections will be taken in June

An election of Local 302 officers for the positions of Business Manager, President, Vice-President, Recording-Corresponding and Financial Secretary, Treasurer, three Executive board members, three Auditors, three Trustees, Conductor and Guard, of Local 302 will be held. Nominations will take place throughout the Districts in the month of June of this year. Tabulation of votes cast for those candidates will take place in August. The nominations and election will be held in accordance with the Local Union Bylaws and the Constitution of the International Union of Operating Engineers. (Click here to download/read Article XV of the Bylaws explaining eligibility, nominations and election procedure.) Here are the dates and locations of the June meetings where nominations will take place:

-- BOTHELL (District 1) Thursday, June 5, 7:00 p.m., Union Hall, 18701 120th Avenue N.E.
-- MT. VERNON (District 2) Thursday, June 12, 7:30 p.m., NW WA Electricians JATC, 306 Anderson Rd
-- ABERDEEN (District 3) Thursday, June 12, 7:00 p.m., Eagles Hall, 200 W. Market Street
-- SILVERDALE (District 3) Wednesday, June 18, 7:00 p.m., 302 Union Hall, 3599 N.W. Carlton St
-- PORT ANGELES (District 3) Thursday, June 19, 7:00 p.m., Eagles Hall, 110 S. Penn Street
-- WENATCHEE (District 4) Thursday, June 12, 7:00 p.m., Red Lion Hotel, 1225 N. Wenatchee Ave
-- ELLENSBURG (District 5) Wednesday, June 11, 7:00 p.m., 302 Union Hall, 403 S. Water Street
-- ANCHORAGE (District 6) Thursday, June 26, 7:00 p.m., 302 Union Hall, 900 W Northern Lights Blvd
-- FAIRBANKS (District 7) Wednesday, June 25, 7:00 p.m., 302 Union Hall, 3002 Lathrop Street
-- JUNEAU (District 8) Tuesday, June 24, 7:30 p.m., Travelodge, 9200 Glacier Hwy.

2008 Legislative Voting Record for WA

Operating Engineers Local 302 has published its 2008 Legislative Voting Record for Washington State.  It explains how every State Senator and State Representative in the state voted on Local 302's priority bills during the 2008 legislative session, and also provides their lifetime labor voting records as compiled by the Washington State Labor Council, AFL-CIO.  The 2008 Voting Records will be published in the 2nd Quarter edition of the Loadline, but they are also posted at this site for members to download. 

Local 302 is planning to put together a similar voting record for Alaska legislators beginning next year.

WA training center seeks new instructor

The Operating Engineers Regional Training Center in Ellensburg, WA, is hiring a new Instructor to teach asphalt/crusher/loader classes.  The Center is hoping to find an operator with at least five years' recent experience for this position.  The Center provides room and board. 

If you are interested in joining their team, submit your résumé ASAP to Jim Agnew at jim@oetraining.com.  Interviews are now being scheduled.  If you have any questions about the position, call the Training Center office at 509-968-3203.

Members can download all contracts

The following contracts are publicly posted:

Alaska's master contract with Associated General Contractors
Washington's master contract with Associated General Contractors

In addition, as part of Business Manager and General Vice President Allan B. Darr's ongoing efforts to increase IUOE Local 302's transparency -- and the amount of information available on its web site -- ALL of Local 302's contracts are now posted on this site's Contracts Page.  However, access to that page is restricted to Local 302 members who have registered to use the site.  Click here to register, or if you have forgotten your user name or password click here.  If you are looking for a contract that is not posted on this site, please contact us.

The latest information on the Concrete Pumper Dispute

Effective Monday, March 24, members of Operating Engineers Local 302 have set up Unfair Labor Practice pickets against Brundage-Bone and Ralph’s Concrete Pumping Companies.  Local 302 filed ULP charges with the National Labor Relations Board against the companies for illegally interfering with and coercing employees who exercise their self-organization and collective-bargaining rights.  See the following Fact Sheets, including the actual ULPs, for Brundage-Bone and Ralph’s.

These pickets have nothing to do with any jurisdictional issue.  Operating Engineers Local 302 has not interfered with the relationship between the Laborers and the affected companies.  Local 302 is picketing for the sole reason of protesting Unfair Labor Practices committed by Brundage-Bone and Ralph's against Local 302 members.

Click here for more information about the dispute between Local 302 and certain concrete pumping companies in Western Washington, or about the intervention of the Laborers' leadership in that dispute.

Local 302 responds to Kimaco ad attacking our Union

(January 7, 2008) -- Before the holidays, Kimaco LLC, a construction crane company based in North Bend, bought a full-page advertisement in the Seattle Daily Journal of Commerce to attack Operating Engineers Local 302.  Until now, our Union has avoided publicly commenting on our legal dispute with Kimaco and two other crane contractors -- Garner Construction and Cascade Tower and Rigging -- because the matter is being litigated, and we believe that is the appropriate venue for its resolution.

Although our inclination is to ignore Kimaco's provocation, our Union cannot let certain accusations, half-truths and deliberate falsehoods remain unaddressed.  However, unlike Kimaco, we will try to provide some context and avoid making wild unsubstantiated accusations that will only exacerbate this dispute.  Frankly, it’s a challenge to explain why Kimaco, which proudly embraces an anti-union "right-to-work" philosophy, is suing our Union to force us to negotiate an agreement on their terms.  How do you explain the hypocrisy of saying no worker should be "forced" to join a union, while suing to force a union to join with a corporation?

But we’ll take a deep breath, and give it our best shot.  Click here for our response.

IUOE 302 supports Valley Power strikers in California

IUOE Local 302 members are supporting their Brothers and Sisters of IUOE Local 3 in the San Francisco Bay area who have been on strike against Valley Power Systems North since July 10, 2007.  The strikers are protesting the company's refusal to honor the union contract that was in place when Valley Power bought the heavy-duty repair facility in August 2005.  In other words, they aren't striking for more money or benefits, their motto is: "All We Want Is What We Had!"

On Feb. 4, a group of Local 302 members protested outside Valley Power affiliate Northern Lights main facility in Seattle. Led by an inflated 12-foot-tall rat, members leafleted customers, delivery drivers, neighboring businesses and the general public urging them to boycott the company until the labor dispute ends. In a recent edition of Local 3's Picket Line Press newsletter, the strikers thanked Local 302 and Business Manager and General Vice President Allan B. Darr for their solidarity.

At each of Local 302's Christmas parties in 2007, Darr asked members to recognize the hardship faced by our striking Brothers and Sisters by making donations to their strike fund.  Local 302 members responded generously, donating more than $4,000 to the strike fund, to which the Union added another $1,000.  (See Picket Line Press coverage.) Back in November, Local 302 members leafleted the Pacific Marine Expo at Seattle Qwest Field Event Centre to inform attendees about the strike.  The leaflet urged them to stop by the display of Northern Lights, a Valley Power company at the trade show, and express solidarity with the strikers.  (See PLP coverage.)

Learn more about the Valley Power strike at Local 3's website.