M.O.R.E Work Fund ‘elevates’ Boilermaker work

Before the 1980s, Boilermakers were the craft that constructed most elevated water towers in cities and municipalities. That was before nonunion contractors stepped into the market with rock-bottom bids. Now, thanks to the M.O.R.E. Work Investment Fund, Boilermakers are regaining some of that work. And even better, the next five years look promising for additional projects.

“We had a great portion of that work, and it’s slowly gone away over the last 30 years,” said Local 1 BM-ST Eric Davis. “I don’t even know the last time Local 1 has sent one of our members out who wasn’t a traveler.”

Ray Moen, a sales manager at CBI Services, is working on a project where Boilermakers are building a water tower for the village of Grayslake, Illinois. Moen said a lot of elevated water tower work used to go union.

“When some of [the cities] contract low price work, this process is repeated by other cities,” he said. “Since the ’80s it’s been a tough market for a union contractor.”

But that’s changing. According to Moen, Grayslake wanted a union contractor to do the work. And thanks to the M.O.R.E. Work Investment Fund, the CBI Services bid was competitive enough to secure it.

“Having an owner that actively wants union labor helps,” Moen said.

Davis said he gets bid notifications through associations that alert the local of governmental work, and when he saw the request for bids for the water tower, he jumped at the opportunity. Initially he called CBI Services’ labor relations manager to alert him to bid the project. The manager met with engineers and the village, then created a proposal.

“I do not believe we would have gotten the [Grayslake] job without the help of the M.O.R.E. Fund,” Davis said, noting the M.O.R.E. Work Fund also secured the bid for an elevated water tower in the village of Gardner, Illinois, completed around three years ago.

Moen said he appreciates the cooperation between CBI Services and Local 1 to find work. “They help us sell the work. They help me see some of the other prospects.” The good news is that union work on elevated towers will continue.

“I think there’s a lot coming out,” Moen said. “We have a lot with L-1 in the Chicago area. Over the next five years, for elevated water tanks, there’s a lot to look at.”

That’s work Local 1 apprentice, David Dishman, can get behind. He’s currently working on the Grayslake tower project with around seven travelers, tankies from the National Transient Division, and an operating engineer. He worked nonunion for 10 years, so he’s not new to tank construction. He indentured into the Boilermakers three years ago because he wanted better working conditions, better tools and better benefits, and he said he found all these in the Boilermakers.

On this job, Dishman’s first elevated tower work, he’s found that working up high comes with unique working conditions. He said it’s essential to be focused and deliberate when working, especially when workers are 150 to 200 feet in the air. “A huge part is communication,” he said. That’s why he appreciates the daily safety meetings. It’s why communication is essential, so everyone can go home at the end of the day.

Boilermakers are welding and rigging on this project. On a typical day, following the safety meeting, three members stay on the ground working on assembly and sending tools and steel to the top to the rest of the crew. Dishman said there are challenges to elevated work, with the height of the tower being one.

“We go over safety a lot because it’s always changing,” he said. “Every Wednesday we have a longer safety meeting.” Workers don’t have room for all their tools while working on the tower. If someone needs a tool they didn’t bring to the top, the ground crew needs to send it up. Dishman said it’s essential to think through the day’s work to determine what will be needed before climbing.

Weather is unpredictable. Moen said if the wind is too high—and it’s always stronger on the tower than on the ground—they might have to shut down. They must be creative with ground assemblies if it’s snowing, raining, or the wind is too high.

“You’re up 150 feet in the air so you’re really exposed,” he said. To get to the tower, members climb a ladder to reach the first floor before climbing a taller ladder 60 to 75 feet to a manhole that leads to three to five scaffolds. Then Boilermakers climb to the overhead cone ladder, a half oval that attaches at the top, so they can weld the vertical sections.

When welding the outside of the tower, workers use a derrick—a machine that lifts heavy weights using a long beam with pulleys and cables—that connects to the shaft in the middle.

“There’s so much going on and so many things that are dangerous,” Dishman said. “All the things that are dangerous on the ground are 10-fold more in the air.”

Even so, he’s happy to be on the job. He’d heard for years that CBI Services was the “epitome of Boilermaker work.” And now on his first job with CBI Services, he understands why.

“No one is questioning the need for safety or a need for tools to get the job done. And there’s no need to cut corners to get the job done [with CBI Services],” he said.

Dishman is looking forward to more tower work in the future. It gives him a sense of pride to know the M.O.R.E. Work Investment Fund is opening the door to work the union hasn’t done for years.

“It’s something we’ve been wanting to have back, and now we’re getting the chance to get that back,” he said. “It’s a motivating factor to get it done on time and do quality work.”