Worker Advocate and Construction Management
Construction and Labor
In 1975, I moved to Alaska to work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Project, working as a laborer out of Laborers Local 341 (LIUNA AFL-CIO), and worked on construction projects all over Alaska, often in Alaskan Native villages. Earned increasing levels of responsibility, from Shop Steward, to Business Agent and Organizer. ( In addition to my work out of Laborers Local 341, I held management positions in the construction industry for different employers.)
- As a Business agent, I was responsible for contract interpretation, mediation of disputes, and the ability to work with others in tense situations, and diffuse conflict. Worked under minimal direction and developed a strong team building approach.
- As an Organizer; developed a strong knowledge of union organizing practices and principles.
- Conversant with worker protection legislation: ADA, OSHA, FMLA, FLSA, Civil Rights Act, and the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.
- Strong knowledge of labor laws, especially with respect to union organizing, understanding of anti-union employer tactics, and staying current with recent NLRB decisions.
- Ability to orchestrate community support, build coalitions and design and execute grassroots lobbying campaigns and boycotts.
- Worked on organizing drives at the University of Alaska, Anchorage campus.
- As a Shop Steward, Business Agent, and Organizer for Laborers Local 341, I was an ambassador for the laborers union to contractors, employees and the general public. Each required strong customer service and diplomatic skills, ability to write clearly, develop leaflets, document organizing drives and job actions. Experienced at public speaking, recruiting volunteers and advocates, training the rank-and-file to serve as effective workplace and political advocates. Daily usage of computer programs; Word, and e-mail programs such as Outlook to name a few.
- In addition to my responsibilities with Local 341, I often represented organized labor on many community task forces, coalitions and community organizing campaigns. Co-authored the Hazardous Waste Management Plan and the Community Right to Know Act for the Municipality of Anchorage, as the labor representative on the Municipality of Anchorage Hazardous Waste Task Force. (For this work I was awarded the Mayor’s Pollution Prevention Award) Under contract to the Alaska state Department of Labor, helped rewrite asbestos regulations for the state of Alaska.
- Strong background in Occupational Safety and Health issues, (possess current 30 Hour OSHA Construction Safety Card, and a 40 hour OSHA HAZWOPER Certification, Hydrogen Sulfude Awareness Training, and current Red Cross CPR/AED/First-Aid Card)
- Built successful coalitions with the environmental community, women’s organizations, and occupational safety and health advocates as part of campaigns to organize non-union workers.
Construction Management and Inspection Skills
- Former Surveyor, Labor Foreman, Assistant Superintendent, Project Engineer, Erosion and Sediment Control Inspector, in charge of SWPPP inspections
- Experienced with concrete pours, water and sewer installation, runway projects, heavy civil construction, commercial building construction, residential construction, commercial/residential landscaping installation.
- Extensive experience in the specialized field of inspecting and mitigating pollutants leaving construction job sites, strong background in permitting, NPDES, the Clean Water Act, EPA regulations governing pollutants on the job site
- Nationally Certified Inspector of Sediment and Erosion Control (CISEC, Inc)
- Alaska Certified Erosion and Sediment Control Lead (AK – CESCL)