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[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1220]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CELEBRATING LIUNA LOCAL 500'S 100TH ANNIVERSARY
______
HON. MARCY KAPTUR
of ohio
in the house of representatives
Friday, September 27, 2019
Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I rise today to recognize a century of
service of the Laborers' Local 500 union in Toledo, Ohio. Next week
members will come together to celebrate this significant milestone,
both reminiscing and looking toward the future.
The International Hod Carriers' and Building Laborers' Union (which
would become today's Laborers' International Union of North America, or
LIUNA) Local No. 500 was chartered on October 20, 1919 to represent
laborers who were in demand to build roads, bridges and other
infrastructure in Toledo and Northwest Ohio. The union has since
provided skills training to thousands of laborers and secured living
wages, health insurance and retirement pension benefits for thousands
of its members who live and work in Northwest Ohio, allowing them to
live decent, productive lives; provide for their families; and retire
with dignity and security. Local 500 has produced many community
leaders and has been a beacon in our community.
Local 500 helped protect its hundreds of members during the Great
Depression of the 1930s while working to build landmark Toledo
structures under the federal New Deal program, including University
Stadium at the University of Toledo and the Toledo Main Public Library.
Members also contributed mightily on the home front during World War
II, helping to build many of the Northwest Ohio factories that supplied
and eventually helped win the war effort.
Over the years, Local 500 members have helped build many of the vital
highways, roads, bridges and infrastructure of Northwest Ohio,
including the Toledo Municipal Airport, the Ohio Turnpike, the Davis
Besse Nuclear Power Station, Veterans' Glass City Skyway, Interstate
280 and Interstate 475. Members have helped build and rebuild downtown
Toledo, including the Fiberglas Tower, Promenade Park, One Seagate
Tower, Owens Corning World Headquarters and the Fifth Third Field
baseball stadium.
At the same time as the members of Local 500 helped to build and
shape our region, they have remained eager and important contributors
to our community. The union participates in charitable initiatives such
as repairing the City of Toledo's Wilson and Farr pools and sponsoring
the Kings Kids Academy and Family House Homeless Shelter.
Today, as Local 500 turns 100 years old, it continues to serve and
protect its membership and its six-county jurisdiction of Lucas, Wood,
Fulton, Henry, Defiance, and Williams counties while providing the
region with a skilled workforce involved in the placement and removal
of concrete, demolition, asbestos removal, grade checking, flagging,
carpenters tenders, brick mason tenders, hazardous waste removal,
tunneling and more.
President Barack Obama noted, ``Change will not come if we wait for
some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been
waiting for. We are the change that we seek.'' As the membership of
LIUNA Local 500 looks back on a century of progress and changing both
lives and community for the better, we pause to remember those on whose
shoulders we stand. We look forward to the next century with promise.
Onward.
____________________
