For Immediate Release
LOCAL 825 OPERATING ENGINEERS & EMPLOYERS COLLABORATE TO IMPROVE PRODUCTIVITY, WIN BIDS AND ADD JOBS
SPRINGFIELD, NJ, Sept. 19, 2012 – Operating Engineers Local 825 and participating employers have formed a new labor-management organization to promote their competitiveness and productivity.
Announcing the introduction of the Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative (ELEC), Local 825 Business Manager Greg Lalevee said, ”Our mission will be to work with our employers and government agencies to maintain our competitiveness and communicate the advantages of our training, experience and productivity.”
Local 825’s participating contractors are represented by Associated General Contractors of New Jersey (AGCNJ), Building Contractors Association of New Jersey (BCANJ), Construction Industry Council of Westchester & Hudson Valley (CIC) and the Construction Contractors Labor Employers of New Jersey (CCLE).
“Management and labor are working harder today than ever to keep union contractors competitive and profitable and keep union craft-workers on the job,” said Jack Kocsis, CEO of BCANJ.
Headquartered in the same building as Local 825, ELEC will team with employers as they pursue construction projects, create bids and communicate advantages offered by Local 825’s heavy equipment operators. Such advantages include their high level of training, experience, job-safety record and up-to-date licensing and credentialing.
“We cannot stand still and wait for opportunities to come to us,” said Mark Longo, ELEC Director. “We’ll pursue all work opportunities, including every aspect of transportation construction – bridges, ports and highways – and all aspects of building construction.”
Longo said his group will work with, and has contributed to, “Build the Bridge Now,” a New York coalition that is advocating for the replacement of the Tappan Zee Bridge this year with a new Hudson River crossing. The coalition consists of major employers, transportation professionals, civil engineers, and labor organizations representing more than 300,000 employees and more than 15,000 employers throughout New York state.
Local 825 is headquartered in Springfield, N.J., and represents operating engineers throughout the state and in five counties of lower New York: Rockland, Orange, Ulster, Sullivan and Delaware. Its members operate heavy-equipment – such as bulldozers, surface graders, backhoes, loaders and cranes – to execute large construction tasks and earthworks operations.