Local 150, the Chicago branch of the International Union of Operating Engineers, is stepping up its feud against Morrow Equipment, the exclusive distributor of Liebherr tower cranes in the USA.
Local 150 director of organising Bob Paddock told Cranes Today: “We have now decided to employ economic leverage to Morrow.”
Morrow has long held out against unionisation of its labour force and has twice won National Labour Relations Board elections. Until now, Morrow has had a monopoly of the tower crane market in Chicago, so dominant is it across the whole of the USA since taking over Pecco’s fleet in the 1980s. Today, however, although its fleet remains five or six times greater than that of any of its competitors, other rental companies are expanding their tower crane fleets and beginning to present a challenge. With alternatives to Morrow now available, Local 150 is raising the pressure on construction contractors in the city and has filed about 30 grievances against contractors using Morrow’s non-union employees. This means that, under the terms of their union agreements, the contractors must compensate the union for not using union members. In effect, therefore, the contractors are paying for the service twice.
For the first time, tower cranes not belonging to Oregon-based Morrow are starting to appear in Chicago. There were approximately 30 tower cranes up in the city at the beginning of January, Paddock estimated. While the vast majority are still Morrow’s, there are two owned by Las Vegas-based Jake’s and one owned by Central.
As Morrow does not supply operators or erection crews with its cranes, the only time contractors are faced with using non-union labour is when the crane needs servicing. With the unions raising the temperature, some contractors are looking elsewhere for service technicians. Among those to have received requests for servicing to the Morrow Leibherrs is American Tower Cranes (formerly A&W Tower Cranes), which has a fleet of 23 Kroll towers. “We are not trying to come in and steal Morrow’s service business,” said co-owner Richard Wheat. “We are not setting out to fix all Morrow’s cranes. Our main business is the rental business not the service business. We have just been asked by a few contractors if we can help them out and service their Liebherr cranes.”
Morrow president Christian Chalupny explained his opposition to unionisation: “The unions do not allow you to be productive. They require you to have an oiler on a tower crane, but you don’t need an oiler on a tower crane. It doesn’t make any sense.”
He continued: “You need specialists to work on tower cranes. The unions just have mechanics. They don’t have anybody qualified to service the cranes. Our technicians are certified by the manufacturers’ factories and have been through training schools specialising in tower cranes.”
Chalupny added: “We will continue to resist unionisation. We will never back away from Chicago. We are not going to concede the market or bend over just because the union doesn’t like us. Their tactics won’t work because the competition cannot provide the service that we can. We will use whatever avenues are available. We will not cave in to their pressure tactics which we regard as blackmail.”
Equally determined, Paddock said: “Local 150 will do whatever it takes to protect its jurisdiction.”
