Old News
To whom it may concern,
My name is Frank Force, I am currently entering my third year of law school
at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. My educational background is
a B.A. in Anthropology from the university of Kentucky and an M.A. in Anthropology
from the University of Oklahoma. My thesis at OU was the taphonomy of the
Domebo site was a Clovis site in sw Oklahoma. I attended the University of
Nevada-Reno field school in 1987. It was not until the Mid-90’s that
I began doing Contract work as a fulltime profession and have worked for
a large number of companies including but not limited to;
Gray & Pape (both Cincinnati and Virginia), CRA, IMAC, MARR, BBAR, New
South, and the Wichita Tribe. I was primarily a field tech but have also been
a field director and crew chief.
I decided to get out of the business because I wanted stability and a real
life. My legal interests include Labor/Employment law, Environmental/Preservation
law, and Energy law. I am currently interning at the N.Y. State Divison of
Human Rights in Hempstead, N.Y. My phone number is (516) 375-6028, My Email
is fforce1@pride.Hofstra.edu and permanent mailing address is 3811 Surf Avenue,
Apt.2J, Brooklyn, N.Y. If you call after 5 p.m. is the best time and after
9 p.m. is even better (unlimited nonpeak minutes), otherwise email is probably
the best way to contact me.
Thank you for Your Time,
Frank Force
I've been doing this for about seven years and the website design looks about that old too. So we need some fresh blood to take it over. It's a great chance to interact with archaeologists across the country and around the world (UK, Iran, Sweden, Indonesia, Kenya, you name it...). You would need to update the site regularly and respond to a few emails. We're asking for a minimum commitment of one hour per week, but if you want to do more, there's plenty to do. If you're interested let me know.
Thanks,
I don't know if you are aware of it or not, but anyone going on a new project with a company HAS to ask ahead of time about per-diem and motel provisions. A disturbing trend has started whereby the CRM company will REIMBURSE you AFTER each 10-day session for your per-diem and expenses (motel, etc.). NO up-front per-diem or motel. That means YOU are loaning the company your money for the motel and food bill that you incur, then you file a claim for your money. Then you wait for them to issue you a check. Please make everyone aware of this, otherwise they might be in for a nasty surprise the next time they drive 500 miles to a job with 40.00 in their pockets for gas, only to show up and be told by the field director that the motel and per-diem is not paid up front. Seems as if some companies are making your financial situation a condition of employment. Get the word out. Thanks.
A.
Hello all
I was a field archaeologist for 25 years and now broken in body and sprit
I have become an object lesson of why a union is so important for those
who are the engine of archaeology. I once thought of joining but feared
that if my employers would no longer find my presence needed ( I had seen
others black listed) but now see the error in that thinking. A union would
have helped me find the courage to confront some of the unethical and illegal
activities I saw in the last few years of my working life.
Keep up the good work.
W.
(10/01)
All the tools you need to file your own prevailing wage violations with the Department of Labor are now online. With a little perseverance, you can help get a fat check for back wages for you and your fellow crew members. Become an investigator with the Committee on Prevailing Wage Violations . -Joe
(6/01)
Do you think your boss is concerned about your health and safety? Probably not until it affects your ability to move dirt. How many mandatory "safety meetings" have you been to where a long list of hazards is read aloud, and then ignored for the rest of the project. So here's a good book for those in the trenches and labs.
Chapters on biological hazards (Lyme Disease, Rabies, Valley Fever, Hantavirus, Histoplasmosis, Anthrax, Tetanus, Smallpox) made me think twice about licking bone to see if it sticks to my tongue (throw it in the bag, and give the people in the lab something to do). Perhaps even more horrific is the archaeology of toxic waste; the chemical soup we work in: embalming fluids, tetrachloroethylene, coke, mercury, or just lead. "Dig Fast, Die Young: Unexploded Ordnance and Archaeology" says it in a nut shell. If you wait until your bosses read this book, and expect them to protect you, it will probably be too late.
Borrow it from a library or get it from amazon.com . -Joe
(4/01)
Just a quick reminder that you can find out how much you should be making on Federal projects. It all depends on what kind of work you do and where you do it.
(1/01)
The DoL is slow, and will probably get slower with Bush in the driver's seat. So, it's good to light a fire under their ass. If you put something in the mail, it goes into their backlog files, a gray abyss that sometimes never gets dealt with. One thing you can do to make a difference is set up an appointment with your local politicians, and have them write letters to speed things up. They have clout, you don't. When you call for a meeting say you're a representative of the Prevailing Wage Violation Committee of the United Archaeological Field Technicians of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 141, put a suit on, get info from the web page, and make your best case.
Marv.
(10/00)
and I am looking forward to the real life.
I've been doing arch since I was a
pup. Pretty motivated and interested 100 percent. Did
the BA, got the MA, been in Central America,
Southeast, mostly research early on, CRM later.
Tons-o-experience, multidisciplinary, yada yada yada. But now after all
this time, I really have
nothing to show for it except an outrageous
student loan bill and a worthless piece of paper(now
out of glass frame) that I use for TP now that I live
under an overpass. Outside of the myopic anthro
discipline, your anthro degree is the source of hours
of laughter in real world, real money, corporate
boardrooms and post-graduate job markets. And if you
are "fortunate" to make it in CRM or academia you are
a cult of one, maybe two - if you count your pimply
teen assistant.
I tell ya, Archaeology sucks. I am sorry but it
does. If you are going into archaeology GO into
business school or go tech. In a perfect world, it
(arch)is cool, but for some reason the biz seems to
attract more of the worst of two kinds of people.
There are the cool, very social and brainy,
undergrad-grad creative types (the solution). And then
there are the dull, mindless, megalomaniacs who have
only two speeds, slow and out-of-control (the
problem). These are the people the CRM companies hire
for upper and middle management. If there was a cool
PI, VP or other I haven't seen them in 12 years in the
biz. I guess CRM does something to ya. But they are
the ones who suck up all the cash and send you in a
downward spiral of perpetual unemployment and an ever
flaccid IRA.
The arch crews are cool, the best part of the dig
(well those that bathe), but the PIs invariably suck.
Ok, I understand management, I am one- I supervise
digs, I own my own biz (non-arch) but I have never met
a group of egocentric, tyrannical know nothings in my
life. You know, those who command from their A/C
offices telling you what you saw in the field is
wrong. Nevermind the data agrees with you.
Nevertheless, I am tired of living out of a
backpack, staying in the cheapest roach motels in
desert border towns, eating gas station burritos and
returning unused per diem. You all have to be tired of
seeing high school dropout ditchdiggers fetching
$30-40/hr to your educated $8.50? The fun of the
science just isn't worth it. You have got to make a
descent living wage or you will be homeless by the
time you are 40. Hell, you would probably be homeless
right now if it weren't for your 2x2!
The archaeology of your youth is non-existent.
The reality is, it is a thankless pile of krap that
will get you nowhere in life. That is unless you
deevolve and become a pseudointellect CRM lackey P.O.S!
Respectfully,
an exstatic ex-archaeologist :)
9/9/99
UAFT Annual Meeting for 1999 will be held this year on the weekend of November
28 and 29. The Meeting will be held in the Cincinnati, OH area. The usual
Labor Day weekend date turned out to be too inconvenient this year for the
UAFT officers and committee members due to their far flung work locations
and school schedules. The location of the annual meeting will be announced
in October, but as usual crash space will be available with local members
and due to the lateness of the season accommodations will be indoors in a
nice heated environment, Thanksgiving leftovers will be available until they
run out. Important issues on this years agenda will include Y2K organizing
efforts, Regionalizing UAFT activities ( with emphasis of California and the
Pacific West ), CPWC activities for the new year, ongoing and proposed legal
action on behalf of the UAFT membership, and Technical Archaeologist Certification
and testing program. There will be a meeting of the various committees and
the professional division will hold its first official meeting. You can contact
us with questions concerning the annual meeting at
UAFT@aol.com or UAFT@juno.com
8/99
A sad story, but very typical. Something similar happened to me about 2
years ago in the southwest. The interview where I was offered a staff
position at $15 an hour plus benefits if I would be willing to relocate.
Luckily, I'm jaded (I have an M.A. & 16 years of field experience)and
knew better than to actually move. I went to the new job & told them
I
was in the process of relocating. They thought they had me! Suddenly,
Poof! 15 an hour turned to a VERY grudging 13 an hour. I was informed
that benefits were only given after 90 days of steady employment, and I
was informed that I would not have a "real" staff position, but that I
would be a crew chief on a 30 day project. I was also informed that I
was the highest paid crew chief they had, so I would get the "losers" on
my crew! When the project was over, they laid us all off! Ah well. Now
I
run a very small archy firm (myself and one other person) as a hobby and
we only do a few small projects a year just to keep my feet wet. In my
"real" job, I work with computers. Full benefits. 44k a year. Regular
raises. A good retirement plan. But I'll always miss full-time
archaeology. Maybe my little archy firm will take off some day & then
I
will run a UNION SHOP that will not hose the people who do the work!
Sorry about bending your ear, but it's good to get rid of the
frustration sometimes.
Anonymous former tech
7/20/99
A recent e-mail to the UAFT suggested that the organization needs to do more to reach out the anthropology students at the university and college campuses around the country, many of whom have not yet heard of the Union ( or the awful conditions in the CRM industry). This effort will need to be a grass roots effort from each of us in the business. It will take contacting the professors at the universities which you attended. We need to let them know about the union movement and try to inform their new students about it. See if your old professors will let you speak to classes or anthropology clubs about the movement. It may even be possible to suggest the formation of UAFT archaeology club chapters on campuses in the future. But, the word needs to get out and the message needs to be delivered personally by the members of the Union. Seldom are your old professors your employers anymore several years after you graduate, and usually they are not well connected to the ACRA crowd. So, you will have little to lose letting them know of your union ties. The new students need to know about the conditions in CRM before they will be willing to help change them. You can either let them take your jobs "as three-year-wonders" only to leave the field when they learn the truth, or you can recruit them to join the fight to make CRM better! Please submit you suggestions on this matter, I know we all feel that it is very important.
Business Manager, UAFT
(6/30/99)
The Committee on Prevailing Wage Compliance has been successful again in
recovering back wages this summer for people working in the Northeast and
in the Ohio Valley Area. These back wage payments are for work on military
bases under U. S. Army Corps of Engineers Contracts. Some of the filed work
dates as far back as four years ago. The CPWC would like thank everyone involved
for their patience and perseverance. This fight must go on, but we must be
diligent and persevere.
(5/99)
Union cards are available for any member, however you must send a
self-addressed-stamped envelope to:
UAFT Membership cards, 3135 West Street, Box B, Middletown, Ohio 45042
Remember the union officers work on the road like you do so it may take
several weeks to get your card. Also, cards are not necessary unless
you are referred to a union job by the union, and at that time you will
get your card before you go to work, unless you already have it.
May 1999 Update
Caesars and Argosy Riverboat Casino Companies both signed contracts in
Indiana which required the payment of "Union Wages" to the workers at
the construction sites of their riverboat landing sites. As you can
probably guess, both site had archaeological site to be mitigated during
construction, and low and behold the archaeological technicians were paid
less than the "Union Wage Scale" set by the UAFT at $18 per hour for all
counties north of the Ohio River.
The case against Caesars, being heard in Vigo County Court, has had an
initial ruling. The judge has ruled against Caesars and denied their
motion to dismiss the case on the grounds that the union members were not
"third-party-beneficiaries" of the contract with Harrison County.
However, the judge did not hold the case over for trial but order the
parties to arbitrate the issue as called for in the contract. The Union
attorney, Jim McDonald, has filed a motion with the Indiana Court to
fight the arbitration order on the grounds that as "third-parties" and
not signatories to the contract the Union Members have a constitutional
right to a trial, and have not waived this right. Mr. McDonald is
prepared to take this issue to appellate court if necessary.
The case against Argosy, being heard in Ohio County Court, may have a
bearing on the Ceasars Case, especially if the later goes to the
appellate court. The Judge in the Ohio County case has ruled against the
casino on both counts, and has found the union members to be third party
beneficiaries and has held the case over for a trial later this year.
These cases will go a long way to strengthen the effort for better pay
and the union position to establish prevailing wages and benefits for
archaeological technicians through out the country.
The Union attorney feels very strongly about these cases and is very
optimistic about our eventual success, however he and his staff also tell
us that we are at least two years away for a resolution unless either of
the casinos throughs in the towel sooner. None of us are counting on
that, so hang tight and we'll keep you posted on the cases progress.
May 1999
LOUISVILLE KENTUCKY---- UPS is expanding its national hub at the
Louisville International airport. This will require the mitigation of an
estimated 300 to 800 Mississippian burials to accomplish the construction
of new facilities and extension of the runways. We tried to get the UAFT
included in the agreement last fall, and UPS tried to exclude the
archaeological workers from the agreement all together. The AFL-CIO
Building Trades Council in Washington D. C. would not accept an agreement
that excluded us, but we could not get UPS to do anything more than agree
to "union wages." We have no contract, but the agreement sets the wage.
The UAFT has contacted the archaeological company (the University
of Kentucky) with a contract offer, and we have informed them of the UAFT
union wage ($17 per hour) for the counties south of the Ohio River. UK
has not responded to our offer, however we have heard that the excavation
has been postponed indefinitely (just weeks after the contract offer was
sent to them). If they pay less than union wage they know that they will
be in for a lawsuit. The UAFT we continue to attempt to negotiate for
this project.
May 1999
Anonymous
<< I moved back east again and tried to work for another firm, again. I
was
hired as a full-time employee, benefits, sick leave, annual leave, etc.
But,
something happened, partially my fault, mostly the companies. It was
three
weeks of work in downtown DC. They'll all know who I am, there were only
two
employees on the job. The other tech is embassy connected. They really
didn't have any other work besides the three weeks. It was a long
commute
for me, but since the job was only a few blocks from the office, no per
diem
or mileage. I don't mind travelling, but it is nice to get home on
weekends.
There's nothing wrong with wanting security. But three weeks and then
nothing borders on gross hypocrisy. All the usual falderol of "you know
the business" is ridiculous. I had another successful career before
getting into archaeology, and am now going back into. Not because of the
work, but because of the puppeteering by many companies, the lies, the
greed. There are very few standards and ethics as
far as field techs go. Some companies do try to keep situations fairly
above
board.
But, there are those others. You drive 600 miles one way, no mileage, no
travel time, no job possibly when you get there. You must support
yourself,
and your salary may be only $9 per hour, "cause this is the first you
ever
worked for us." Even though you may have years as a field tech. I'm
willing
to prove myself. I can do the job. But I'd also like some respect, a
little
bit of integrity, and the knowledge that someone can be a little bit
honest,
I really mean honest with you about circumstances.
I'm just another broken record at this point. I have felt very
passionately
about archaeology. A few years ago I was totally committed to a graduate
degree and solid life-long work in this field. Witnessing the greed, the
petty backstabbing antics of PI's, field directors, and sometimes by crew
members themselves trying get their "foot into the door," the "you know
the
routine" when there isn't any, non-safety standards, etc., has eroded the
passion and really left me high and dry.
I've had a real thinkout. Do I really want to spend the rest of my life
fighting these dudes to try to not become like them? I definitely don't
want
to become one of them. Even the ones who try to even things out, to look
out
for crew, to pursue safety. It's all a big bluff--just don't upset the
apple
cart, don't make waves, don't cry in the wilderness. A good cry empties
the
heart of deep feelings. A good winter storm blows all the dust and
pollution
from the atmosphere--clearing the air for all. But CRM seems to be at a
still calm in a mirror sea. There are a few trades blowing around, but
they
are trapping all the debris in the middle. Will it ever blow out?
I wish all those who continue in this business the very best.
(If you wish to print this you can, but please leave my name off.) I am
going
back to work in my previous career. There are a lot of hills and valleys
in
that one too, but the roads and cars are better built.
UAFT comment: this is what we are all fighting to change. If we fail,
we'll all be leaving this business for jobs we hate, but that pay the
bills! It is up to us! All of us!
(12/10/98)
Greenhorne & O'Mara, Inc. is a large Engineering and Environmental consulting company with offices through the east and in Denver, CO.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has determined that an election will be held force the company to negotiate with the UAFT by a showing of a majority of workers wanting the union to represent them. This election will be held by mail ballot and will be sent out on or about December 15, 1998--- and will be due back by mail by January 1, 1998.
This election campaign began in 1995, and the company has spent an estimated half million dollars to block the employees right to have an election. All this money was wasted, and they should have spent it to increase employees wages, because the NLRB has found that each of the eight or so arguments as to why we can't vote were bogus! The NLRB ordered the election on December 1, 1998.
If you have worked for G & O in the past year we want to hear from you!
Right away ! so we can make sure you're on the list to vote!
Reply to:
UAFT/Central Organizing CommitteeVOTE
UNION YES!
(9/25/98)
For Immediate Release
United Archaeological Field Technicians
Local 141
International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO
On Monday September 14, 1998, 12 of the 21 laid off archaeological field
technicians raised an informational picket in front of Caesar's
construction site along Hwy 111, near New Albany, Indiana. As soon as
the technicians stepped foot on the shoulder of the road (highway
right-of-way) Caesar's goons dressed in black t-shirts and jeans began
threatening and harnessing them. The techs were told to get the hell off
of Caesar's property and that they were all going to jail. Trey Edwards,
assistant project manager for Caesar's sat in a company vehicle across
the street from the picket and counted heads, took pictures and talked
on
his cellular phone. One of the larger goons said he was calling the
sheriff and the state troopers to arrest everyone present. Luckily the
media showed up before violence was incited, although the Vice Chairman
of the UAFT was threatened that he would be hit if he didn't leave the
area immediately. Local affiliates from Fox, NBC, ABC and a local
Louisville station TV 32 covered the action. There were also reporters
from the Louisville Courier Journal and the Corydon Democrat there.
National Public Radio also covered the picket.
Regardless of the rocky start the picket was a smashing success. An
estimated 90% of the 300 union construction workers walked off the site
and honored the picket line. Many were shouting "SOLIDARITY" and
blowing their horns as they drove away, and one construction worker
briefly joined the line. Of the 21 field technicians that kept their
jobs at the site, only 7 showed up for work on Monday. Many trucks
carrying cargo to the site turned away when they saw the picket signs and
refused to deliver their materials to area. It was the first time since
construction started on the Ohio River floodplain that there was silence
across the area and no heavy machinery was working. The informational
picket ended Monday afternoon, but news crews covering the story from
helicopters above the site reported live at 6pm that work was still at
a
stand still at that time. Before the picket happened construction work
had been ongoing 24 hours a day (3 shifts).
There have been no attempts at this time by Caesar's or Indian State
University to open negotiations with the UAFT. The archaeological
technicians are seeking re-employment with ISU and a union contract that
pays the $18 union scale that is owed them. The UAFT will continue to
pursue this matter with ISU and Caesar's until a resolution is reached
that satisfies all parties involved.
(9/13/98)
For Immediate Release
United Archaeological Field Technicians
Local 141
International Union of Operating Engineers, AFL-CIO
Twenty-one employees of the Anthropology Lab of Indiana State University
(ISU) were laid off from the archaeological mitigation project at the
Cearsars World site in Harrison County Indiana with less than fifteen
minutes notice on the afternoon of Friday Sept. 11, 1998. This action
was stated by the employer to be due to a temporary lack of work, but
also followed in the wake of a law suit filed by the workers and the
union for back wage due under Ceasars agreement with the Harrison County
Commission to pay "union wages" on the project. The union feels that the
layoff is a retaliatory action against the lawsuit by the employer (ISU)
and their co-defendant RDI/Ceasars Riverboat Casino LLC (the developer).
The casino project is under obligation to provide a number of
environmental mitigatory services under their U S Army Corps of Engineers
404 permit, among them the removal of significant archaeological sites
on
the property, in advance of other construction activities. The Union and
seventy-seven employees of ISU filed the wage suit during the last week
of August, 1998. The archaeological crew had already been reduced by
attrition to around forty by last friday, with management stating, to
crew members, their intention to hire and additional twenty
archaeological technicians to bring the crew back to near the full
strength of the seventy to eighty plus employees working during the
summer. Ceasars and their contractor ISU have committed themselves,
through their Corps Permit, to the removal of at least four
archaeological sites by next April or May. They have been working on
these mitigations since last November and so far they have only removed
one site. Time would appear to be running out and the union questions how
they intend to complete these mitigations with only twenty people
(including management). It would appear that the reduction in force at
the moment Ceasars is promising to launch the riverboat casino "the Glory
of Rome" is purely retaliatory. A layoff at this time and for the
period of six to eight weeks as stated by the employer will serve to
disperse the technician employees, as these people are specially trained
for this work and are forced to travel great distances (across the
country) to secure work in their field. Archaeological Technicians
travel for work like other construction workers, but few construction
sites are placed on top of Native American Village or Camp sites. The
effect of such a layoff will be to cause these workers to disperse to
other archaeological projects across the country, and would appear to be
an attempt by ISU to silence the lawsuit. The union feels that this
layoff is an act of discrimination against these employees for filing the
suit and exercising their right to associate with and support a union of
their choosing. ISU, in this action, has laid off individual members of
couples. The union feels that this is an attempt to force the remaining
person to quit when their spouse is forced to seek work in another state.
In light of these perceived unfair practices, the affected workers have
elected to raise an informational picket at the construction site in an
effort to inform our brother and sister union workers and the general
public of this mistreatment at the hands of ISU, the employer. It seems
that Ceasars stands to make a lot of money off of local people with this
venture, but it does not seem to the union that they intend to honor
their contractual promises needed to receive the necessary local, state,
and federal permits for the project.
This release is to inform the media of the present events, and opinions
expressed herein are to be taken as to be editorial in nature as the
"opinion of the Union" the union fully expects that Ceasars and ISU will
express their own opinion on these matters, but the union fully intends
to assist in filing suit on these claims at the earliest opportunity, on
behalf of the affected employees. The courts will decide the facts
presented to it in this action.
Business Manager
UAFT/IUOE LU 141 AFL-CIO
Further questions should be addressed to:
Employee counsel for the above mentioned proceedings, Jim McDonald of
Terra Haute, IN. (812) 238-2546
(9/98)
In the past year the U S Department of Labor has found two major companies guilty of noncompliance with the Service Contract Act (SAC) prevailing wage law. The DOL was able to secure the payment of back wages totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. Individual back wage paychecks are reported to range from a few hundred dollars to as high as nearly $30,000, from just these two companies; several other have been found guilty for lesser amounts. Congratulations go to the brave and pissed-off victims of federal contract fraud who turned in their crocked bosses to the CPWC for investigation. Keep up the good work and thank you to the members of the CPWC who ever you may be!
(9/28/98)
Over labor day weekend the Governing Board of the UAFT meet for two days at Chenango Valley State Park in upstate New York for the annual meeting required under the UAFT by-laws. The meeting set the new agenda for the upcoming year including the launching of a professional division of the UAFT to serve our members who are currently ROPA qualified and to address professional standards violations witnessed by technicians. Another area proposed was an auxiliary group for friends of the UAFT which would include student friends, and professional friends. This is in an effort to create a forum for participation in urgent national issues by concerned students and professors from around the country. Several resolutions were adopted including one to oppose continued funding for the terrorist "School of the Americas" at fort Benning, GA (UAFT 98-104). This is a terrorist training camp run by the U S Army to train South American dictators police who to kill and torture peasants and native indian populations in their own countries. 1998 will be a busy year, and we are relying on your support.
(9/28/98)
September 14, 1998 the UAFT learned that the National Labor Relations Board found in favor of the union and is ordering an election for the archaeological technician employees of Greenhorne & O'Mara Inc. located in Greenbelt, Maryland near Washington D. C. This order stems from a two year old case for an NLRB election filed by the union in the summer of 1996 where a majority of field techs expressed their desire to have a union at G & O. The NLRB has put a lot of issues on the back burner these past few years because the republican congress has refused to conform Clintons appointees to the board, but last fall they finally did and the NLRB has been wading through the back log of cases. The board found against everyone of the companies arguments for why we should not even be allowed to have a vote.
The Companies reasons were as follows:
1. The field technicians are temporary workers and therefore not allowed to vote. The board found that field techs are not temporary workers, but rather work only sporadically for one or more companies due to the nature of their industry and have a reasonable expectation to be recalled by the same employer should work be available. Therefore they are allowed a vote.
2. The field technicians are not technicians but are professionals and should be included in the bargaining unit and should not be allowed to vote. The board found field techs to be technicians and not professionals. Therefore are allowed a vote.
3. Lab technicians, even though they work in the field some times, should not be allowed to vote because their job is too different. The board found that lab work is part of the technicians job and therefore they should be allowed to vote.
4. Crew Chiefs are supervisors and should not be allowed to vote. The board found that crew chiefs are not supervisors, but are like foremen on a construction site and should therefore be allowed to vote.
5 The vote should not cover all of G & Os employees on all projects, just the U S 219 project (which ended in Oct. 1996). The board found that the nation wide bargaining unit that the union asked for was appropriate and a vote should include all G & O projects no matter where they are in the United States.
G & O spent an estimated half a million dollars fighting this election and they lost on every count. We expect that they will try to mail past employees stuff that says the union is bad or won't help you, but the union is you and the help comes from all of us sticking together, so don't believe them. If they think a million dollars will stop a union in their shop they would spend it. All to prevent field techs from getting decent pay and treatment, let alone a say in the quality of the archaeological work.
The question that now lies before the board is how long a person needs to work for a company before they are eligible to vote. this period of time could be as short as two weeks during one calendar year. The present standard in the construction industry is a total of four weeks in one year or a total of six weeks over two years. so if a person worked on a project for six weeks, two years ago they would still be able to vote to unionize the company. Every one who worked on the G & O U S 219 project in PA should be looking for an NLRB ballot in the mail sometime this winter, we'll let you know when the time is announced. But, get the ballot, vote union YES, and return it to the NLRB as soon as possible (the day you get it would be best). This will effect all of G & Os projects anywhere in the U S, so get out there and vote union yes!
United Archaeological Field Technicians
3135 West Street, Box B
Weirton WV 26062
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