Iron Workers Local 377

Organized Labor

Mike Hinton, Raising Gang Foreman, Local 378
I sequence the iron, putting numbers on the pieces. I read the plans and direct where it goes. Today I'm doing flagging because we're short a guy. We have two guys up on the beams and two guys on the grounds and an operator. There is a lot of camaraderie among iron workers. We're a pretty tight group. You have to be, when you are moving around 17- to 20-ton beams. It's hard work being a connector. Not everyone can do it, not even every iron worker. Safety is important, but they got us tied down with so much fall protection that it restricts the guys' mobility. If something happens, they can't get out of the way. The OSHA standards used to be 15 and 30, but they are so determined to have zero falls that we're tied to a 7-foot radius. So you may not fall, but you get back injuries and herniated discs from having to move in restricted ways. But we still do it and keep moving on.