About Us
OPERATIVE PLASTERERS' AND CEMENT MASONS' INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION
The Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons Local 797 is one of many Local Unions
within the International Association. We cover the entire state of Nevada and
have our main office in Las Vegas with our Northern office in Reno. We have been
charted in Northern Nevada since 1905 and in Southern Nevada since 1935. We
represent more than 2,100 Plasterers and Cement Masons and have a long list of
signatory contractors that you can view from the contractor's page. Our members
are proud to be part of a skilled group of craftsmen that continuously strive to
build a quality job wherever we go.
The Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' International Association of the
United States and Canada, also known as the OPCMIA, represents the members of
one of the world's oldest and most noble crafts. OPCMIA members are the proud
carriers of a tradition that predates the Pharaohs pyramids. As early as man was
building shelter for himself, there was plastering - first with mud or clay and
later with a lime mixture much like that used today.
As society grew and man undertook projects to control and improve his
surrounding, cement masons became a vitally important part of the community.
Bridges, canals, dams, reservoirs, roads and many other engineering feats would
be impossible without the skills of OPCMIA cement masons. Together with the
plasterers and fellow building tradesmen, they have played a key role in shaping
the world that surrounds us.
As early as 1501, England's Henry VII granted the plasterers of that nation a
charter to organize a guild with the central purpose of maintaining quality
standards for craftsmanship and materials. The charter gave officials of the
guild the right to inspect all plastering jobs and to levee fines for
unsatisfactory work or use of cheap materials. To this day members of the OPCMIA
are still concerned with quality control on the job.
The craftsmanship standards of the European artisans were brought to America by
immigrant plasterers of the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries before the United
States was founded. These first American tradesmen have as their monument the
beautiful colonial homes they decorated with elegance.
As their numbers increased in
the New World, the plasterers began to organize groups similar to
the European guilds. These groups were generally organized by
nationality. In New York, for example, there may have been a local
union for English plasterers, a local union for Irish plasterers and
one for Italian plasterers.
The system was not the result of any intended discrimination or
snobbery, but rather a way of doing things as they had always been
done in the "Old Country." In some ways these new American groups
were looked upon as extensions of the European guilds. There is
evidence that a union card earned in Ireland, for example, could
serve as a form of instant recognition for a plasterer seeking to
join a local in his new country.
Evidence indicates that the main function of the American locals, as
the 1800's opened, was to ensure quality of craftsmanship. Each
local sought to guarantee that the plasterers in its jurisdiction
were properly trained and that they upheld the standards of the
craft throughout their careers. By the early 1830's plasterers'
locals were located in many North American cities. |
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Thanks to inventions such as the steamboat and the train, America was becoming
more mobile, and the nation was moving in a westerly direction. With the new
mobility the plasterers union began to feel threatened.
They were organized to work on a local level but they were running into problems
beyond their scope and jurisdiction. For example, it was becoming common for a
plasterer who belonged to one local to accept work in another area. This usually
resulted in the worker being required to pay dues to two locals-his home union
and the local which had jurisdiction over his temporary workplace. On other
occasions apprentices would run away from their programs before completion and
would present themselves to employers or other locals as full-fledged
journeymen. And while there was a great deal of cooperation among locals, all
too often such deceits were effective, thereby undermining the quality of the
craft and weakening the locals.
Although a fire destroyed most records of the union's early history, making
exact dates impossible to document, it is believed that the problems faced by
the locals brought them together just before the Civil War in a group known as
the National Plasterer's Union (in some accounts it is referred to as the
National Plasterers Organization). Before the group really had a chance to prove
itself, however, it was overwhelmed by the war.
In 1864, with the war still in progress, the organization was revitalized. Its
purpose was to regulate, standardize and promulgate the different scales of
wages and working conditions, to establish a traveling card system, to institute
apprentice training and regulations on a standard basis and to acquaint local
unions with the names of unworthy members who had to be disciplined or otherwise
penalized as well as the names of incompetent applicants for membership.
In early 1882 the Cincinnati local union went on strike for higher wages and,
after a sixteen-week standoff, the union achieved its demands. During the course
of the walkout, the Cincinnati local had requested financial aid from the other
plasterers' locals. Various local leaders responded generously to the appeal,
and in the process of uniting behind their brothers in Cincinnati, began to
discuss the idea of reviving their national group. It was agreed that
representatives of the locals would meet in St. Louis in September 1882.
The result of this landmark gathering was the rebirth of the national
organization. While sources on this convention are scarce, some important
results of the meeting are known. It was at this convention that the name
Operative Plasterers National Union was adopted. We also know that Michael
Mulvihill of Cincinnati was elected as the union's first president and that Mr.
J. J. Kennedy of Cleveland was elected secretary. The new secretary was directed
to contact each Plasterers local union and urge immediate affiliation.
Eighteen delegates came to Cincinnati for the union's second annual convention
in July of 1883. At the convention new officers were elected including James W.
Smith of Philadelphia as president. Two resolutions that would become important
parts of the union's legacy were also adopted. The first dedicated the national
union to the concept of the eight-hour day, the second encouraged local unions
to do everything in their power to "honorably avoid" unnecessary strikes.
In the early part of 1885 the local plasterers union of Toronto applied for
affiliation, but as the constitution of the national union provided for
jurisdiction only over the United States, the application was denied. At the
1887 convention, how ever, the constitution was amended to include Canadian
affiliation and the name of the union was officially changed to Operative
Plasterers' International Union (OPIU) of the United States and Canada.
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By the 1890's, the OPIU had
made dramatic progress on behalf of its members. By 1898, the
eight-hour day had been established in the plastering industry, and
recognition of the Saturday half-holiday had generally been
achieved.
The early 1900's brought many innovations in union activities. In
1907, with the publication of "The Plasterers," OPIU began a
tradition of labor press excellence that continues to this day. In
1908 OPIU was one of the building trades unions affiliating with the
American Federation of Labor as part of the newly formed Building
Trades Department.
In 1914, in recognition of the growing number of cement workers who
had come into the union, the name of the group was officially
changed to Operative Plasterers' and Cement Finishers' International
Association. |
In July of 1915 an agreement was reached with the United Brotherhood of Cement
Workers which provided that the Cement Finishers who made up that union would be
admitted to the OPCFIA.
Through this process of merger, organizing activity and growth in the
construction industry the Operative Plasterers' and Cement Finishers'
International Association continued to grow.
Along with other construction unions, the Operative Plasterers' and Cement
Finishers' International Association suffered a severe blow with the Great
Depression of the 1930's. Unemployment in the building trades soared.
Despite the tremendous obstacles created by a failing economy, the OPCFIA
continued to move forward. Responding to the increasingly important role that
the federal government was beginning to have in its members' affairs, the union
opened a Washington office in the late thirties.
America went to war in 1941 and members of the Operative Plasterers' and Cement
Finishers' International Association served the cause in a number of ways from
completing defense projects well ahead of schedule to volunteering for the often
hazardous duty of the Navy's Construction Battalions or "Seabees." Even before
the United States became involved in the war, Canadian OPCFIA members were
serving their country in its war efforts. As in the U.S., Canadian building
tradesmen answered their nation's call with complete dedication.
As World War II came to a close, one of OPCFIA's chief concerns was maintaining
construction quality that can only be provided by skilled craftsmen. The
thousands of men returning from the service and anxious to get into jobs in an
industry converting to civilian production were a threat to this quality.
Construction boomed with the peacetime conversion, but in the eyes of
experienced building craftsmen who made up the OPCFIA, too many corners were
being cut in the rush to build.
Responding to the quality
issue, the union established the National Foundation for Lathing and
Plastering in 1945 to stem the movement toward inferior materials.
The Foundation, a joint Lathers' union industry program, spread the
message to architects, engineers, contractors, public officials and
the public: plaster is a superior material for which there is no
quality substitute.
As the nation adjusted to the post-war environment and the economy
began to build up steam, the demand accelerated for the Cement
Finishers represented by the OPCFIA. Highways, bridges, hospitals
and school buildings were desperately needed, along with a multitude
of other projects involving concrete work. Reflecting the fact that
its members did more than finish cement, the union changed its name
in 1951 to the Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons'
International Association.
As part of its long-standing tradition of pursuit of excellence, the
OPCMIA, in the post-war era, began to establish apprenticeship to
assure a constant supply of highly skilled craftsmen. Just as the
OPCMIA advocated use of quality materials, it also demanded quality
Plasterers and Cement Finishers who were properly trained in the
craft. |
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In 1946 the union joined with the Contracting Plasterers' International
Association and the Associated General Contractors to establish the National
Apprentice Training Standards. Through this program the union was able to
guarantee a steady flow of qualified Plasterers and Cement Finishers to an
ever-expanding construction industry. Working closely with the Veterans'
Administration, the union indentured a large number of returning servicemen into
apprenticeship programs.
During the 1950's the union found itself dealing with challenges familiar to
every building trades union. As the economy expanded with its constantly
increasing demands on construction, the union fought hard to maintain the high
quality of materials and high levels of craftsmanship in the industry. It worked
with equal perseverance to ensure that its members earned fair wages and to
build the membership through organizing.
More and more, the OPCMIA was drawn toward the nation's capital in its efforts
to preserve and expand on programs for its members. This required closer
proximity to the federal government where many of the policies affecting unions
were being formulated. The Washington office opened in the late thirties was no
longer sufficient. In 1960 the OPCMIA moved its headquarters from Cleveland,
Ohio to Washington, D.C. In its new location the union was even better prepared
to face the challenges of the new decade.
As the 1960's began, cement masons proved as critical to peacetime defense
projects as they were to the war periods. Across the country skilled craftsmen
constructed the silos for intercontinental missiles designed to deter the
threats of war. In accordance with a request from President Kennedy, cement
masons joined other building tradesmen in a no-strike pledge covering crucial
defense projects.
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As the decade of the 1900's
got underway, the OPCMIA was caught up in the spirit of change.
Re-evaluation and reform were the order of the day in American
society. Along with other organizations of the labor movement, the
union used its considerable political and economic influence to help
bring about the reforms called by great leaders such as John F.
Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. The union
wholeheartedly supported passage of the landmark Civil Rights Act of
1964, which set the nation down the road to true equality for every
citizen regardless of race. The OPCMIA also sought passage of the
Great Society legislation proposed by President Johnson in order to
free thousands of Americans from the cycle of poverty.
In addition to fighting for legislation to improve the lives of
minority citizens, the union joined with other building trades
unions in an effort to increase minority employment in the
construction crafts through apprenticeship training. |
Young blacks and Hispanics were brought into the apprentice programs, opening
the doors to jobs on construction sites across the nation.
The Operative Plasterers' and Cement Masons' International Association continues
to play a decisive role and work diligently on behalf of its members. Today, the
OPCMIA is strong and building on its past, looks forward to the challenges of
the new millennium. Over a hundred years after that first gathering of concerned
craftsmen, this union continues to live by the principles upon which it was
founded and which will continue to be its strength in the new millennium.
Source: The Builders - Building and Construction Trades Department, AFL-CIO