In a good economy, our members work their hardest through the summer months and in the past years almost all of our members would be out on sites with open calls at the hall for operators going unfilled.

This year, this is not the case.  We have many members waiting for a call to work while other unions and non-union employees are getting on equipment, taking jobs from our highly skilled members at lower wages.  Now is the time to defend our jurisdiction, to get our representatives out to sites and ensure our contracts are in effect.  Ensure trained operators are running equipment.

I urge every member, no matter their area or if they are travelling this summer for work, to attend your July / August meetings.  Don’t leave our representatives without your input when work is scarce and they have an important job to do.  If your local area July / August meetings have been cancelled, ask your business rep’s why?  Now is the time for vigilance.