Operating Engineers Local 3 and the Transbay Terminal

Organized Labor

Vince Marcum
My favorite piece of equipment is the excavator with a radio. It's comfortable. I used to run a big crane, and you're all stressed and your feet are sore. This thing is like sitting at home in your easy chair listening to music.

But you got to be careful. I got hit with a rivet the other day on the side of the jaw. It felt like a 300-pounder slugged me at the bar when I wasn't looking.

After 30 years there are still surprises. You have to be alert and be prepared for the unpredictable. You have to be ready to dodge things, especially if you're running a crane. Things are always flying at you. All you have is a piece of glass to protect you. But boom, and things can go through that glass, like a piece of re-bar.

The other day a piece of 20-foot re-bar was caught up in the building lacing. I could hear it going cling, cling, cling. It was on the parapet, the highest part of the building, and I'm trying to knock it away and back into the building. The building was on Kearney Street. I thought I got it, but sure enough, the next thing you know, I heard clank, clank, clank, and it came falling down and nearly missed going through the top of the cab.

Right now I'm ripping the shield off these columns and then breaking up the concrete inside. Then we separate the materials. That is a big part of demolition, separating the valuable metals from the concrete for recycling.

The other thing on a job like this in the middle of downtown, any time you see a cardboard box, there could be someone sleeping in it. You have to watch out. There was a guy in one the other day. I had to tell him, “Hey partner, you need to get out of here for your own good.”