Quick Links
Local 44 BylawsInternational Ironworkers Constitution
Local Pictures
Journeyman of the Month2010 Class Pictures
Videos
Ironworkers at SunriseGreat American Tower
!!!We need your Help!!!
Check out this video I posted last week on You Tube. A Target store in Newport was being erected by a Non Union Contractor. Now when they set the joist they don't need connectors at all. So how can we compete with companies that do things illegal as hell like this?
Here is what I did with the Video:
1. Called KY OSHA and explained.
2. Sent the Compliance officer the video with an explanation of the violations.
3. Called the General Contractor to inform them.
4. Sent them the video.
5. Let them know we were filing a complaint as an interested party on the steel erector.
6. Contacted the City Manager and the Economic Planner of Newport to let them know.
This is where I need your help.
When you see a Non-Union company doing something wrong like this, get a camera and get some evidence.
Call the Hall and let me know.
Make sure you shoot the video in a way to identify the job.
Try to get an address and a contractor (or a general contractor at least.)
Above all dress accordingly for a jobsite and be respectful and polite to anyone on the job. We want them to hire you instead, right!
Where are we going ???
Where are we??
I though that I would take just a few minutes to let everyone in on where it seems that we are as an organization. Currently, the work market is very bleak in and around Cincinnati. This is not to say that there is no construction. There is Ironwork out there. Unfortunately, a large amount of that work is being performed by non union contractors.
Over the past 15 years, I have watched the non union companies go from erecting minimarts to Wal-Mart's. From small story jobs to high profile projects like the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts. From 100 man Powerhouse shut downs at Miami Fort and Ghent to a new city building in Newport right under our nose. When the I-275 bridge from Kentucky to Ohio by Coney Island needed repairs, a non Union company did the work. A bridge that was built by members of this very local.
How did we get here?
I began my Ironworking career in 1995, and like most apprentices who got in before me and everyone since, we were always told how bad it was in the 1980's around here. Just so you know the worst year for work in local 44 was 1985. In 85' there were 450,984 man hours worked. This year we are on pace to work 396,000 hours. That is 12% fewer than the worst year we have ever had.
Why is that?
Well, over the past 10 years the number of non union contractors around here has tripled. Where once these non union companies worked to undercut union wages, now they are undercutting each other. Driving down the going rate for an Ironworker every day. Today, someone in Cincinnati is doing Ironwork for a total package of $15.00 with no insurance or pension. Now these contractors won't be able to last forever this way. But, they don't need to. They need to last for as long as it takes for us to decide that we just don't do that kind of work anymore. And that is what it is about!! If you can take out your competition then you can set the market price. Right! isn't that what we did for the last 100 years.
Now, some people will put the blame on the Ironworkers themselves, others will blame the Union Officers and then still others will blame the Union Contractors or the Generals Contractors. The truth is that all of us share in the blame. The other truth is that we can point fingers at whomever, we can argue about how we got here for the next hundred years, be pissed about it, watch our work continue to slip away or we can do something about it!!
So, now just ask yourself, does anyone around here do fence work? Does anyone around here do highway signs or guardrail? How much Machinery moving or Rigging do you think we do now a days? Who is doing all the small bar joist jobs right now? Again, we can blame whoever you want to blame but in the end who is left ??? It's you! It's your job that somebody decided you didn't want to do anymore. It's a job somebody didn't want to bid on, a job an Ironworker didn't want to do or a job your BA didn't have anyone to send to, so we all just gave up. Now, "it is, what it is"!! And it has been building for over 12 years. We knew this day was coming. But did we ever really have a plan to stop it? Did we? Do we have a plan to get it back? If we do, what is it? If we don't, what is yours?
Where are we going?
