This is the seventh volume in a continuing group of projects on
labor-management history. These studies are designed to provide a
narrative of the long-term development of labor organizations or col-
lective bargaining relationships; they also seek to explain and to in-
terpret the changes in policies and structure that unions and manage-
ments make in response to changes in technology, market competition,
and the community environment.

The International Union of Operating Engineers is a significant
labor organization although it is not well known by the public or by
scholars. It numbers almost three hundred thousand members. In con-
struction, the top job classifications of operating engineers are among
the highest paid in the industry with responsibility for handling expen-
sive machinery. In heavy and highway construction, involving the
building of dams, earthmoving operations, dredging, and the like, the
operating engineer is often the key craft to the general contractor. The
international union is highly regarded by contractors' associations,
other international unions in the industry, and by government procure-
ment agencies. The leadership of the international union, particularly
over the last 25 years, has pursued policies designed to stimulate the
long-term growth and viability of the organization. Outside of con-
struction, the organization has continued to represent skilled stationary
engineers in power plants attached to industrial plants, commercial
buildings, and municipal facilities. Moreover, as in the case of many
craft unions, it now represents employees in industrial plants in a
variety of industries including oil, chemicals, and electric power, as
well as in craft units in industry generally.

The International Union of Operating Engineers has a history rich
in interest for its officers and members and their employers as well
as for students of the labor movement and collective bargaining. The
union started out among steam stationary engineers, and now the
operators of construction machinery constitute the majority of the
membership. The territorial jurisdictions of many local unions in the
construction industry (the hoisting and portable branch of the union)
have been expanded considerably, often by consolidations, to cope
with the larger areas of migration of contractors and their equipment.

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