International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE) currently has more than 400,000 member workers. It represents approximately 170 local unions, in addition, it operates in nearly 100 apprenticeships programmes (Helm, 2011). It has 8 member local unions, Local 3 which is based in Alameda and it covers four states, Nevada, Hawaii, California, and Utah. Majority of the member workers of Local Three are construction workers and heavy machine operators. Local 4, entails members of eastern and central Massachusetts. Local 14-14B which covers NewYork and has approximately 1600 members.
Local 150 which is based in the countryside which voice the most typical operating engineers such as Heavy-highway and building trade (Helm, 2011). Local 825 which covers New Jersy and Newyork’s lower counties. Local 115 which has more than 9000 members, it represents skilled members in transport, road construction, mining, and aviation. Local 115 covers British Columbia Canada.
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"International Union of Operating Engineers".
IUOE has a central office which represents all operating engineers, every local union has departments which are headed by managers responsible for coordinating all the duties. There is the human resources management which ensures that the union has enough human power which represents the workers. The union also has research and field coordination departments who are responsible for carrying out research and identifying the possible problems affecting workers. The union has many departments to ensure that it has a strong bargaining power. The union is headed by a board of directors. The organization generally has adopted Bureaucratic structures where there is a clear definition of responsibilities and duties.
International Union of Operating Engineers Union mainly operates within ming, aviation, construction, welding and transport industries. It ensures that workers within this industries are well-represented and have a strong bargaining power. IUEO was founded in 1888 and it has been in existence for 32 years, several amendments and advancements have been made along the way. More adjustments have been done to ensure that the union covers.
Classical Work Jurisdiction Dispute
The disputes were between D.J. Johnson Company and the International Union of Operating Engineers. The company was involved in masonry activities and it had employed workers of the union local 118, The company had bargaining power with the Masson Contractors of America. The company had employed local 118 workers to only forklift operation. In 2004 the organization had threatened to fire and drop all local 118 workers, based on the bonified agreement of wages, working conditions and hours, the company did not pay attention to the local 118 workers as they were only given a contract (Blyton et al., 2001). In August 2004, the workers of local 150 started to picket concerning the job site and on the other hand, local 118 retaliated by threating to join the strike if the company dared to replace the laborers on the forklift with operating engineers which led to the representation of the company with a classical jurisdiction dispute. This dispute was finally forwarded based on article three chapter which provides that “any job dispute shall be presented to International Union and Employee Association (Blyton, 15).” In January 2005, the company filed a charge against the two unions against unfair labor practice, it claimed that the two unions had violated section 8(b) and 4(D) of the National Labour Relations Act.
Omni House Dispute
In 2003, members of the Omni House Health Behavioral Services were involved in organizing to have the organization recognize the union as their collective bargaining power representative. In the process of organizing, members of the Omni house picked as they had been instructed by the union without giving their employee a ten-day notice as required by the law. In response to the picketing, Omni House suspended and terminated the members who were involved. The workers fired filled a suit against the union instead of inconsiderate misrepresentation under the state law as the union had clearly informed them that their actions were lawful and acceptable. The union refuted by filling a dismissal of the suit. The union had misled the appellants by advising them that they had the right to picket without prior-notice as stated in section 7, the Boston court of law stated that it was false and misleading to the workers of Omni House. The union finally stated that the employees had broken any law and that the law only requires organization workers as a unit to give a ten-day notice, the law did not affect individuals (Weil, 2005). The initial action had been taken by the organization but Omni House had not been given sufficient time to make a ruling. The final decision was received on September 2003, the Union was fined and advised to take deep consideration of state law.
OHIO Contractors Dispute
OHIO Contractors handle heavy machinery used in road contractions, the Union requires that such companies should use union employees, on the other hand, the company is seeking to use remote-controlled equipment in such construction. The dispute entails the agreement of new-machine arbitration provision (Weil, 2005). The union is advocating for the use of classified wages while on the other hand, the company does not want to have classified wage rate. The union filed a suit in 2011 against the company for failure to follow the new-equipment clause. The company refused and filled for the dismission of the case as it had no use of union employees, the new clause allowed the two parties to negotiate and arrive at a mutual agreement. Prio-action had been taken by the union to advise the company to follow the state labor laws. The conflict was whether the company should use classified wages or not. The use of arbitrator was successful as the final decision was arrived at on 2012 where the new-machine clause was made clear to the two parties and the union was further adviced to consider the general labor laws act.
- Blyton, P., Lucio, M. M., McGurk, J., & Turnbull, P. (2001). Globalization and trade union strategy: Industrial restructuring and human resource management in the international civil aviation industry. International Journal of Human Resource Management, 12(3), 445-463.
- Helm, M. T. J. (2011). International Union of Operating Engineers.
- Weil, D. (2005). The contemporary industrial relations system in construction: Analysis, observations and speculations. Labor history, 46(4), 447-471.
