Union continues strike against holdouts

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June 25, 1999Two southeastern Wisconsin construction sites were shut down Thursday as a strike by local operating engineers entered its second day. Work on an addition and remodeling to a physical education building at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha ceased when picketers set up a protest against general contractor Platt Construction Inc. Platt Construction signed an interim agreement late Thursday and work is expected to resume at the site on Friday. “People were so good, really supportive,” said Sasha Gorman, a research coordinator with the union. “It’s a very significant job and an important job. It says, ‘You’re the last remaining sizable contractor. You need to sign this or we’ll start picketing your jobs.’ They had a choice and they didn’t want to talk to us.”The job, valued at more than $7.5 million, will create a 120,000-gross-square-foot addition under designs by Fischer-Fischer-Theis Inc. of Waukesha. The project includes a 200-meter indoor running track, an aerobic fitness center, a combatives room, a dance studio, weight room, three classrooms and other spaces. Operating engineers also carried signs outside Platt Construction’s office at 7407 S. 27th St. in Franklin. “We haven’t heard anything from Platt, other than that we uphold safety and not obstruct cars and so forth,” said Willie D. Ellis, a business representative and organizer with the union who stood with other members outside the office. “And we’re being peaceful, and we assured him that we would be.”Calls to Platt Construction were referred to Dick A. Platt, the firm’s president and owner and chairman of the employers’ in the operating engineer talks. He did not return calls seeking comment.Picketers from Local 139 of the International Union of Operating Engin-eers also protested at a construction site at 801 Cardinal Lane in Hartland where general contractor James Luterbach Constru-ction Co. Inc. was at work. The New Berlin-based firm is building an 8,200-square-foot building at the site for Landmark Credit Union of Waukesha. Dale A. Miller, the local’s business manager, said that workers on the project honored the strike and ceased work on the one-story structure, designed by Torke Wirth Pujara Ltd. The company signed an interim agreement later in the day. Steve K. Peterman, vice president of the Wauwatosa architectural firm, said he did not expect the action to have a significant impact on the project. A spokesperson for James Luterbach Construction declined to comment.

50 interim agreements signed

As of Thursday afternoon, close to 50 interim agreements were signed with contractors covered by the Area 1 builder agreement, which includes Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Washington and Waukesha counties. The 603 members of the union struck Wednesday, but only about 50 people were protesting on the second day, union officials said. In addition to individual support from unionized trade members, Local 317, which covers stationary engineers, is supporting the strike. Those attending the Thursday morning meeting of the Mil-waukee Building & Construction Trades Council were also sympathetic.“We’re not trying to take someone else’s work, we’re just trying to cover our own,” said Terry J. Pare, a business representative and organizer with Local 139 who attended the meeting. “I don’t think you’ll find any of the other trades that disagree. They understand it.”Under the current contract, general contractors can use a member of any trade to operate a forklift, but only for up to three hours. Over the three-hour limit, an operating engineer must be assigned to the forklift. Union members contend that general contractors rotate other trade members through forklift operations to avoid the three-hour threshold, but contractors point to the historic use of such equipment by other trades. Local 139 wants contract language so that that the limit will be eliminated and only operating engineers used.Local 139’s personnel remained on the job where contractors had signed interim agreements. Interim agreements allow operating engineers to continue working until the dispute over a master agreement is settled, though contractors typically pay more than the expected wages and benefits under the new agreement, according to the union. The interim agreement calls for an hourly wage increase of $1.50. Among the 127 contractors in the builder agreement who have not signed the agreement is mechanical contractor Wenninger Co. Inc. of New Berlin. A company spokesperson could not be reached for comment. Union members arrived early Thursday morning at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Wauwatosa, where Wenninger is a subcontractor. The picketers left later that morning. The same site was closed down on Wednesday because Appleton-based general contractor Oscar J. Boldt Construction Co. had not signed an interim agreement. Work on two 39,000-square-foot residence halls resumed when the company agreed to the interim contract. Also signing was F.J.A. Christiansen Roofing Co. Inc. of Milwaukee. Local 139 said it picketed a New Berlin job site of the company on Wednesday where it said a nonunion crane operator was being used in place of a unionized operating engineer. Rob A. McNamara, president of F.J.A. Christiansen Roofing, declined to comment on company operations during the first day of the strike, but said that the interim agreement was signed after program details had been worked out.

Fast track for charges

The National Labor Relations Board, meanwhile, has put its review of two charges filed Tuesday by the Allied Construction Employers’ Association and the Associated General Contractors of Greater Milwaukee against Local 139 on a fast track. The charges claim that Local 139 has violated two provisions of the National Labor Relations Act since June 1 “to the point of impasse” in the contract talks. Under the first charge, the operating engineers are said to have insisted on language in a collective agreement that would enlarge the bargaining unit by including operations that have traditionally be done by members of other trades under other labor agreements. The second charge specifically states that Local 139 has acted to force employers to assign forklift work to union members rather than other workers. Local 139 officials say the charges were incorrectly filed and therefore without merit. In the meantime, they plan to continue strikes as long as necessary. Miller said that, barring interim arrangements, today’s pickets will likely target Wenninger and Voss Jorgensen Schueler Co. Inc. of Waukesha. “People’s wills are strong,” Gorman said. “They know that our threats are serious and I think that everyone knows we’re trying to be an activist union.”