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For all the New York City guys

TRACKHOE71

Well-Known Member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
143
Location
eastern PA
Occupation
OPERATOR
does anybody know of any work going on at JFK airport in the next couple of years? If so, is it mostly non - union/ rate or is it alot of union work? thanks
 

truck608

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
15
Location
NY
does anybody know of any work going on at JFK airport in the next couple of years? If so, is it mostly non - union/ rate or is it alot of union work? thanks

There is always work going on at JFK. I would say with 95% certainty that any large work there is union. Local 14 and 15 are the Operating Engineers in New York City. Local 282 is the Teamster Local there, which I am a member. The company I work for is currently doing an expansion on the old TWA terminal for Jet Blue.
Hope this helps
John
 

jerseyfatass

New Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
2
Location
central jersey
trying to get into the union

I was wondering if anyone knew the steps into getting into a union. I live in central jersey which is the local 825 How do I go about getting the training to run the heavy equipment . Do I have to get hired by a company first . I need more training on the machines . I have have some experience but not enough
 

truck608

Member
Joined
Feb 6, 2007
Messages
15
Location
NY
I was wondering if anyone knew the steps into getting into a union. I live in central jersey which is the local 825 How do I go about getting the training to run the heavy equipment . Do I have to get hired by a company first . I need more training on the machines . I have have some experience but not enough

I am a Teamster in NY, so I am not sure how things work with the Operating Engineers in NY as far as training and employment. You could try to contact either Local 14 or 15 of the Operating Engineers in NY to answer your question. They are the 2 locals that would most likely cover the type of work you are looking for.
 

jerseyfatass

New Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2007
Messages
2
Location
central jersey
looking for a union job in nj

Thanks I appreicate that I'LL look into it. I have a friend who is a long shoreman near newark airport over there by IKEA and he even tried to get me into there its not easy. I'm just looking for a good paying union job with the benifits of course, and minium lay offs . YEAh good luck right I know.OPEN TO ANY SUGGESTIONS
 

milling_drum

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
725
Location
out west lately
Occupation
asphalt mill operator (ret)
Any Municipal work performed within the Boroughs of NYC is union dominated. All laborers, operators and truck drivers will be required to have a union card to be on those jobs.

I Milled a parking lot close to the base of the Whitestone Bridge (on the Bronx side, an old Roller skating rink parking lot turned into a Home depot knock off store or something) we had an Union operator show up and make sure we were kosher. Thankfully the fella's we were working for are either protected or very well connected cuz I ain't a union operator and the engineer ****ed off without a word:)
 

Wolf

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2006
Messages
1,203
Location
California
Best unions in the world in NYC.

Years ago, I was involved with a large office construction in NYC. Of course, the NYC construction job was all union. They said it added $200 million construction costs to the $800 million project. No small potatoes.

Nevertheless, this building was the corporate headquarters of a company we all know well. One of their operating centers in North Carolina was not union (all of the others were).

The union didn't like that, so one day they came into the new NYC corporate headquarters and trashed the beautiful walnut elevator panels just to get their point across.

The got the power, man, better respect it, or else.
 

Buckethead

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
Messages
1,055
Location
Waterfront
Occupation
Operator
Thanks I appreicate that I'LL look into it. I have a friend who is a long shoreman near newark airport over there by IKEA and he even tried to get me into there its not easy. I'm just looking for a good paying union job with the benifits of course, and minium lay offs . YEAh good luck right I know.OPEN TO ANY SUGGESTIONS

If you want minimum lay-offs I would stay away from the construction industry regardless of whether it's union or non. If you don't want to get laid off your best bet is to avoid private industry altogether and work for the government or become a lawyer.
 

CascadeScaper

Senior Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2005
Messages
1,162
Location
Lynnwood, WA
Occupation
2nd year Operating Engineer Apprentice
Yeah don't join the union if you don't want to get laid off. Thing about the union is that if you get laid off, there's no guarantee you'll be back with the same crew when work becomes available. The contractor can easily find somebody else from the hall. Now, that is really only the case if you're just another guy running a machine, if you're nothing special they'll keep searching to find someone who is. Being irreplaceable is the key to staying fairly busy and keeping the layoffs to a minimum, even then, winters are rough.

As far as getting in, I'd recommend checking out the apprenticeship route. I've gone through initial apprenticeship training, 7 weeks of training and now I'm working. The apprenticeship out here is a minimum of 4,000 hours require to journey out, we have to take and pass 3 modules at the training grounds. 2 equipment tests and grade checking test is required to graduate. I'm glad I went this route instead of going in as a journeyman, I could have passed the excavator practical and written tests easily and loader would have been simple, so I could have gone in as a journeyman. Glad I didn't, there's a lot to know and with only 5 years in this biz, I'm not quite prepared enough to handle journeyman responsibilities. Not so much that I can't run the equipment at journey level, because I can on excavator and loader, but when you're a journeyman, there's this assumption that you always know what's going on. If I would have been dispatched to the job I'm on now as a journeyman, I would've freaked out, we're doing some pretty crazy stuff and I would have been lost. Thankfully I'm there as an apprentice, I've worked my way up to do a small amount of journey level stuff in the short amount of time I've been there, but now after 3 weeks I have a good idea of what's going on and feel comfortable doing so. You don't have that luxury at the journey level, you show up, you better know what's happening. So, knowing to run equipment to the best of its abilities is really only about half the battle. Experience and exposure to the type of work your crew is doing helps a lot.
 
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milling_drum

Senior Member
Joined
Aug 19, 2008
Messages
725
Location
out west lately
Occupation
asphalt mill operator (ret)
As a Mill operator the unions rarely come up with people that know how to run them. Over the years I've always had some "oiler" over my back in certain union heavy districts. Not that I minded or anything cuz they always up and left after the 8 hour deal.

People have varying opinions on Unions, I'd tend to disagree with the Tactics of them going smashing up offices or intimidating people into joining them as "powerful". In my opinion thats nothing more then gangland krap. Not much different from a buncha east LA gangbangers driving around shooting at people, how much respect should an organization be given who really only guarantee a pay rate, they cannot do much more then that. Half the time they can't even get a good operator where he needs to be because seniority and "friends", "relatives" come first. If thats a legitimate way of them doing business, I'll enjoy watching them fold, which shouldn't be too far off the way America is going.

I recently had the pleasure of working for someone who bought two asphalt milling machines owned by an old school, now out of business NYC paving contractor by the name of Co-Fire.

Both Mills were Roadtec RX60C models, they had been run by union operators since new. One had an auto greaser on it which is really a bad idea on Milling machines due the variation of interval greasing being to different for certain areas. Needless to mention both those machines were some of the worst cases I've ever seem of just plain old lazy worthless operators...

If thats union, I'll never be interested. Recently I heard the contractor that had the NYC DOT milling in Manhattan had a mill on fire right out in the road. I'll skip the obvious blame issue but....That same contractor I had gone to see while they were in Brooklyn about work (I didnt care about union concessions because milling is termed as "specialty") and from what I saw them doing in the yard with the mills and the condition of them; decided at that point I couldn't work for those people.

Some of the union guys I met were good, decent folks, I have nothing against them at all. But to call the tactics the union organization uses like what I read above as acceptable is rediculous no matter what the reason for it.
 

Buckethead

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
Messages
1,055
Location
Waterfront
Occupation
Operator
As a Mill operator the unions rarely come up with people that know how to run them. Over the years I've always had some "oiler" over my back in certain union heavy districts. Not that I minded or anything cuz they always up and left after the 8 hour deal.

People have varying opinions on Unions, I'd tend to disagree with the Tactics of them going smashing up offices or intimidating people into joining them as "powerful". In my opinion thats nothing more then gangland krap. Not much different from a buncha east LA gangbangers driving around shooting at people, how much respect should an organization be given who really only guarantee a pay rate, they cannot do much more then that. Half the time they can't even get a good operator where he needs to be because seniority and "friends", "relatives" come first. If thats a legitimate way of them doing business, I'll enjoy watching them fold, which shouldn't be too far off the way America is going.

I recently had the pleasure of working for someone who bought two asphalt milling machines owned by an old school, now out of business NYC paving contractor by the name of Co-Fire.

Both Mills were Roadtec RX60C models, they had been run by union operators since new. One had an auto greaser on it which is really a bad idea on Milling machines due the variation of interval greasing being to different for certain areas. Needless to mention both those machines were some of the worst cases I've ever seem of just plain old lazy worthless operators...

If thats union, I'll never be interested. Recently I heard the contractor that had the NYC DOT milling in Manhattan had a mill on fire right out in the road. I'll skip the obvious blame issue but....That same contractor I had gone to see while they were in Brooklyn about work (I didnt care about union concessions because milling is termed as "specialty") and from what I saw them doing in the yard with the mills and the condition of them; decided at that point I couldn't work for those people.

Some of the union guys I met were good, decent folks, I have nothing against them at all. But to call the tactics the union organization uses like what I read above as acceptable is rediculous no matter what the reason for it.


Here's where your story falls apart. I never heard of an oiler on a milling machine. Also if your company is nonunion why did they have a guy from the union working there? Calling people names like "lazy" and "worthless" is a personal attack, it's not logic.
 

qball

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 30, 2007
Messages
1,072
Location
il
Occupation
local 150 operator
i don't know how they do it in nyc, but in chicago the union strives to put out a great operator. we have the hallmark training site staffed bu the best the industry has to offer. i understand that union membership is not for everyone. i also understand that there was a rough and tumble to my locals history. but i do know that my local makes the industry more profitable for everyone involved. a better, more efficient operator, better benifits to keep a good operator, the ability to call the hall to get a trained operator at a moments notice. i could go on for hours but i won't, we can agree to disagree, but please be sure to speak fact and not conjecture.
 

RollOver Pete

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 5, 2007
Messages
1,510
Location
Indio, Ca
Occupation
Operating Engineer/mechanic
The union didn't like that, so one day they came into the new NYC corporate headquarters and trashed the beautiful walnut elevator panels just to get their point across.

The got the power, man, better respect it, or else.

When you say "The union didn't like that", and "they came into the new...", are you talking about a bunch of bent unemployed union operators who "on their own" decided to get their point across or something organized by the IUOE Local?
There is a huge difference.
I've been a Local #12 operator since 1986 and I have yet to see any proof of the IUOE's going out and trashing anything.
I've never seen any local and when I say local I mean a group led by a (paid) business agent involved in that kind of crap.
I won't be a part of that in any way, shape or form and I'd be the first one to put a stop to it if I were to see it with my own two eyes.

The same goes with some bent out of shape operators who choose to go down this path.
They do not represent me or the Operating Engineers.
Sadly, this happens often and in this case, I'll bet thats what happened.
Just another story of what might have happened custom tailored to suit someones specific agenda.
Believe me, I know how operators can be.
I R one, remember.
If I'm wrong, then please....show me the proof.
:cool:
 

surfer-joe

Senior Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2007
Messages
1,403
Location
Arizona
Well Buckethead, here in Phoenix they have oilers -- or helpers -- if you like, on milling rigs. Last December I was offered a position operating one on the 101 freeway in Scottsdale, and there was an oiler assigned to the machine along with an operator. That outfit had two or three more machines on the same job and they all had oilers. Non-union outfit too.

By the way, I've worked an occasional project where the non-union contractor had to have a highly qualified operator and could not find one locally except thorough the operators union. They worked out a special deal with the union and brought in a fella or two from the hall for the time those machines were on the job. Happens all the time.

I am a member of 428 in Phoenix and Local 3 in Fresno and everyone of the union hands I've met here in the west have been pretty good people. I can't say that for some members of 825. Had to work with them in New Jersey some years ago and they were very difficult to get along with. Maybe with some younger leadership now in the hall they have improved their attitude. I sure hope so.

Most of the intentional equipment abuse I've encountered over the years was performed by non-union operators I'd have to say, though some folks with the United Mine Workers deserve special mention. Some people work up a mad and cause damage no matter if they are members of a union or not. I can relate stories both ways.
 

Buckethead

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 4, 2007
Messages
1,055
Location
Waterfront
Occupation
Operator
Well Buckethead, here in Phoenix they have oilers -- or helpers -- if you like, on milling rigs. Last December I was offered a position operating one on the 101 freeway in Scottsdale, and there was an oiler assigned to the machine along with an operator. That outfit had two or three more machines on the same job and they all had oilers. Non-union outfit too.

By the way, I've worked an occasional project where the non-union contractor had to have a highly qualified operator and could not find one locally except thorough the operators union. They worked out a special deal with the union and brought in a fella or two from the hall for the time those machines were on the job. Happens all the time.

Sorry Joe, I forgot other places may be different re: milling machines. I stand corrected.
 

OneWelder

Senior Member
Joined
Apr 12, 2007
Messages
483
Location
Derry, New Hampshire
One of my friends had a small non union co., but one of his dozer operators was union. Don was a very good op. and worked thier for about 16 yrs until his retirement - I was told there is no problem as long as it is through the hall
 
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