Operating engineers give up on contract dispute

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May 15, 2000Operating engineers in southeastern Wisconsin unceremoniously ratified a contract last week, resolving a strike that shut down jobs last summer and dragged out for months after union members agreed to return to work.Under the three-year agreement, Area 1 Builder Agreement members of the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 139 will receive annual increases of $1.40. The agreement covers four classes of operators, from the hourly wage package of $28.59 for Class 1A members to $20.27 for Class 4 members. Classes 4 and 5 were combined under the agreement, according to a worker for the union. The wage agreement is 10 cents short of the $1.50 an hour raise agreed to in interim contracts with construction companies. The interim agreements, which were to have expired next month if a contract was not reached, allowed operating engineers to continue work with more than 50 companies despite not having a master contract.“It’s basically the same as where we were last May,” said George Lubeley, vice president of operations for Edward E. Gillen Co. in Milwaukee and one of two negotiators for the employers. “The wording changes are agreeable to both of us now.”Dale A. Miller, Local 139’s business manager, and President Cecil J. Argue were unavailable for comment.Though operating engineers got a pay increase as part of the agreement, the union decided not to pursue contract language about the use of forklifts, which had prompted the strike. At present, contractors can use a member of any trade to operate a forklift for up to three hours. Over that limit, an operating engineer must be assigned to the forklift.Initially, Local 139 sought to remove the limit so that only engineers would be using the equipment. The union claimed that general contractors were rotating other trade members through forklift work to avoid the three-hour threshold and the need to hire operating engineers. The failure to agree to the language prompted a strike on June 23 by more than 600 members of the Area 1 agreement, which covers Kenosha, Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Racine, Washington and Waukesha counties. Three sites were shut down during the strike. Work on two 39,000-square-foot residence halls at Wisconsin Lutheran College in Wauwatosa stopped because Appleton-based general contractor Oscar J. Boldt Construction Co. had not signed an interim agreement. Work resumed, but picketers remained until subcontractor Wenninger Co. Inc. of New Berlin signed as well.Work also stopped at a 120,000-gross-square-foot addition and remodeling project to a physical education building at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside in Kenosha by Platt Construction Inc. and an 8,200-square-foot branch office for Landmark Credit Union in Hartland by James Luterbach Construction Co. Inc. of New Berlin. Those contractors later signed interim agreements as well. Pickets also went up outside a 120,000-square-foot, seven-story building for Johnson Controls Inc. at 507 E. Michigan St. in Milwaukee where Grunau Co. Inc. of Milwaukee was subcontractor; a Wauwatosa site where Fred Kinateder Masonry Inc. of Waukesha was working; a $30 million addition and renovation project by Menasha-based Miron Construction Co. Inc. at Homestead High School in Mequon, and a New Berlin project of F.J.A. Christiansen Roofing Co. Inc. of Milwaukee. Work continued during the strike. Picketers also were seen outside Platt Construction’s office at 7407 S. 27th St. in Franklin.