Operating Engineers Local 3
Organized Labor
Feb 2009
John Brown, Apprentice, 5 years. I've been in the construction industry all my life. My dad was a general contractor and I’ve worked both union and nonunion. The union has changed my life. The union allowed me to put my daughter through college, pay off a lot of bills, and get my teeth fixed. When you’re in a union, you have comradery and the power of the union behind you, and you have safety. I've seen guys hurt due to the improper operation of a booming crane on a barge rig. It was a non-union job, and they didn’t have the proper safety techniques, especially when it came to rigging safety. They used load chains and all kinds of things that are improper. It's hard to say no when your job’s in jeopardy and you don’t have anybody to stand behind you and say that isn’t right. I would never work non-union again.