The International Union of Operating Engineers (IUOE), diversified
trade union that primarily represents
Operating Engineers, who work as
heavy equipment operators,
mechanics, and
surveyors in the
construction industry, and
Stationary Engineers, who work in operations and maintenance in building and industrial complexes, and in the service industries. The IUOE also represents
nurses and other
health industry workers as well as significant numbers of
public employees engaged in a wide variety of occupations.
The IUOE
today has 400,000 members in some 170 local
unions throughout the
United States and
Canada. The IUOE is the 12th largest union in the
AFL-CIO.
The IUOE was founded in
1896 when a small group of stationary engineers met in
Chicago on
December 7,
1896 to form the
National Union of Steam Engineers of America, the
forerunner of today's IUOE.
Each was from a small U.S. local union. The largest had only 40 members and all but one local was from the stationary field. The majority of these founders shared a common skill: the ability to operate the dangerous
steam boilers of the day. (As tribute to these early workers, a steam gauge even today dominates the
emblem, of the IUOE.)
A
year later, the first Canadian workers joined the fledgling union. To reflect this expansion across the border, the union's name was changed to the
International Union of Steam Engineers.
More and more construction workers signed on after the turn of the century and the union changed its name once more at its 1912 Convention to reflect this new composition, becoming the
International Union of Steam and Operating Engineers, and as members began working with internal combustion engines, electric motors, hydraulic machinery and refrigerating systems, as well as steam boilers and engines, the word "
steam" was dropped from the union's name and in 1928 it became the International Union of Operating Engineers.
Since its creation the IUOE has had members working on a wide variety of large-scale construction projects in
United States and
Canada.
San Francisco's
Golden Gate Bridge, the
Panama Canal,
Chicago's
Sears Tower,
Toronto's
CN Tower and
Sky Dome,
New York's
Empire State Building and
Holland Tunnel, the
Statue of Liberty,
Vancouver's
Lions Gate Bridge, the
Alaskan Pipeline and
Hoover Dam were all projects worked on by members of IUOE.
IUOE is affiliated with the AFL-CIO
Most information in this write up is from http://www.iuoe.org