he Joint Labor Management Cooperation
Trust was borne out of the 1993 contract negotiations between the
Local Union and our four major Employer Associates. The Trust was
crafted to comply with the similarly named 1978 federal law, to speak
to issues not readily addressed in collective bargaining. The jointly
trusted Cooperative Trust is funded as a "Taft-Hartley" Fund under
section 302 (c) (9) of that act.
Listed among the host of reasons for its
existence, the Cooperative Trust documents define several that are
key. Among them are: to improve communications between the Union and
the Employers, to expand work opportunities for the members and their
Employers, and to promote efficiency and competitiveness of the Union
and our signatory Employers. The Trust periodically surveys
construction trends to make certain we're attaining those goals, and
shares that information with the Employers and with other unions.
The Cooperative Trust has been
successfully applied to some 920 completed, hard number bid projects,
and is currently in place on an additional 425 active and ongoing
jobs. Additionally, the Trust has been used extensively (more than
2,000 projects) in the paving industry to win back the small, and
highly competitive, private paving projects.
Since winning its first project in March
of 1994, to the end of the 2003 calendar year, the Cooperative Trust
has helped our Employers add an additional 5.5 million hours of work
for the men and women we represent. By any measure, the Operating
Engineers Joint Labor Management Cooperative Trust would be described
as a very successful collaborative effort between the Local Union and
our Collective Bargaining Partners.
For more information on the Cooperative
Trust, or to request a current Trust Application Form, please call the
Cooperative Trust office at 508.533.9181. or send us an e-mail at
office@iuoelocal4.org.
