Organized Labor

Randy Murphy
Crane Operator, 33 years

The best part about being an operating engineer is you get to go all over and build great things, like working on the Bay Bridge. It is quite an historic thing, and to see what the old-timers did when they built the original bridge, it’s pretty amazing. They didn’t have the big cranes we have today. They had to build the whole thing with small rigs and mostly manual labor. I have a lot of respect for the iron workers, laborers, and, of course, the operating engineers who built that bridge. And it has held up real well.
I started out as a pile driver. Then my father-in-law got me into running cranes. He had his own company building foundations. My wife’s also an operating engineer. We’ve been married 34 years and she has worked in the field for 17 years. We work together on a lot of the jobs. It’s great working together. Sometimes she oils for me, and other times she runs her own crane.

Sherrie Murphy
Crane Operator, 17 years

I love being in operating engineers and working with the other crafts. Each trade has their own specialty. The carpenters and laborers, they are all a good bunch of people.
I grew up in the business. My father owned a construction company. I would go out on the weekends around all the heavy equipment and was fascinated by it. I always felt that one day, I would get to do it. I got married, had my kids, and when they were all raised, I figured, “Now it’s time for me to do something I want.” Now it’s 17 years later, and I’m still loving it.
It’s nice working with apprentices. It takes you back to when you started out. Charles is like a sponge. He soaks up all this information and has the drive to learn. It’s exciting watching him grow. He’s now operating the biggest crane out here and, of course, he was trained by the best, my husband.

Kurt Wiederholt
Crane Operator, 24 years

I was in junior high school, and my friend’s parents owned a drilling company. I started messing around in the yard seeing what was going on and helping out. Then I started oiling on their cranes, and now I run one.
We get to work outdoors, and there’s always something different. It’s great to see the project when it’s done and you drive by with your family. I show them all the different spots I’ve worked. I worked on the Benicia Bridge, high-rises, and big shoring jobs. I like drilling big shafts, like missile silos in Alaska.
You have to know your limitations, what you can get away with, without tearing the rig up, because when you’re down you’re down for a while. They can’t get these parts overnight.
I’ve been around a few crane wrecks, some pretty dangerous stuff. Safety is the biggest concern out here, watching out for each other and not getting yourself in a position where you shouldn’t be.

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 camaraderie 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.
I actually took a 50 percent pay cut to become an apprentice. I had enough experience to come in as a journeyman, but I didn’t have enough experience in the crane aspects. The apprenticeship was one of the best things I ever did. I learned a tremendous amount. I worked in crane rental at first, and we did a lot of build up and tear down. You learn the full gauntlet involved in running a crane, including taking it apart and putting it together. It gives you a tremendous amount of confidence.

Wayne Davis
Crane Operator, 30 years

I’ve been in construction a number of years. The type of work we do out here, everything is a lot bigger. It’s heavier and at a slower pace. You have to be real careful about everything. I like it. Everything is so much bigger.
I’ve worked on pipelines, on airports, on highways, so many different types of things. But this is the biggest project I’ve ever worked on. I’ve told all my friends about it. They say, “Hey Wayne, I was driving over the bridge and I spied this blue-and-white crane. Were you on that?”
I started as a crane operator in the Navy Seabees in the early 70s. I got out and joined the Local 3 apprenticeship program in 1978 and have operated cranes ever since. The toughest for me was the math part. I’ve never been that great at math, but you have to know the weight of things, the weight on the earth, and the weight of the cable strain to calculate how far you can safely take things out. Believe it or not, cranes tip over real easy. I’ve seen it happen.
I was working next to another crane one time at an oil refinery, and we were both doing the same thing. He took the first vessel down and he tipped his crane over. It could have happened to me. He shouldn’t have done what he was told to do, but you’re stuck sometimes. The boss will say, “This is how it is, and if you don’t do it, I’ll get somebody else.” Fortunately, if you feel that something is wrong and don’t feel comfortable doing it, the union business agent will come out and try to work it out. It’s happened to me. It’s good when you have someone backing you up. I’ve always been on union jobs and have never wanted to be on a non-union one.

Myron Coleman
Excavator Operator, 30 years

I came out of the combat engineers in the Army and started as a journeyman. When I first started in 1979, it was a lot different as far as minorities. I was one of the few. It was hard, but I stuck with it and then got the respect I deserved. I’m good at what I do.
I like the satisfaction of feeling I’m accomplishing something. I’ve built everything from dams in Sacramento to light rail in San Francisco to the overpass in Oakland. I’ve done a lot of underground work, too. I love the underground; it is pretty cool.
I get a lot of satisfaction out of showing the new kids what to do, the ones who listen and learn, keep busy. The others are left by the wayside. I keep pretty busy.

George William Bond, III
Man and Material Hoist Operator

I’ve been around cranes for a long time. When I first started, OSHA had just kicked in under Nixon. So we got to raise the bar real high as far as safety is concerned. My dad worked in Chicago on the Sears Tower, and he would take me up on the high-rises to watch the progress. Back then, before OSHA, the iron workers didn’t tie off that much. Now we put safety first.
I prefer operating the crane to working that high up. When you operate a crane, you have to make sure you are within the safe range and the ground can be a little uneven. We have a safety review before we start the job, and then in the middle of the job we have another safety huddle.