Heavy-equipment operators call strike against contractors (Buffalo)

[struggle4progress]

By FRED O. WILLIAMS
News Business Reporter
4/5/2005

Striking heavy-equipment operators and their Buffalo-area employers are far apart, a union official said Monday, raising the odds that the work stoppage could delay highway projects this summer.

"It could slow things down on the road and bridge rebuilding in Western New York," said Mark Kirsch, business manager of the Operating Engineers Local 17 in Hamburg.

The union called a strike over the weekend against a group of 21 employers, the Associated General Contractors/Labor Relations Division, rejecting a contract proposal with no raises.

Local 17 members run backhoes, cranes, bulldozers and other equipment in six Western New York counties. About 700 of its 1,000 members work at the associated contractor group, whose contract expired March 31. <snip>

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050405/1066565.asp