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History:
The hall moved again in 1999, this time during one of Harvey A. Swift’s terms as Business Manager. The Local Union bought ¾ of an acre from the JATC and built, like the JATC did using Williams Construction and volunteer labor, a new hiring/meeting hall at 14716 E. Pine. 2001 was a busy year for the Union Ironworkers in Tulsa, OK. We cannot mention the year 2001 without wiping away tears for all of the Americans who were killed by the senseless destruction on September the 11th. We will also take this space to thank all of the Ironworkers, from across the country, which traveled to ground zero and aided in the recovery and clean up effort. Oklahoma became a ‘Right to Work’ state on Sept. 25th. Also in 2001, the members took action again to save the Death Benefit Fund, voting to increase the benefit and the assessment to prevent it from becoming obsolete. To help the families of members, a Local Union scholarship endowment was started. In 2005, Local Union No. 584 became signatory to IMPACT. |
In 1996, the membership passed a targeting fund as a means of trying to recover some of the lost market share of the 1980’s. Also in 1996, Brother Jerry McClain, a second generation Ironworker out of Local No. 584 who also had sons which later became members, carved a ‘tribute to the trade’ statue. The statue was featured on the cover of ‘The Ironworker’ magazine and is in the lobby of the Union Hall for all to view. In 1997, the JATC bought 1.5 acres and hired Williams Construction – a signatory contractor - to build a new training facility at 14712 East Pine in Tulsa. It had outgrown the old location and the new site had potential for more than just the Apprenticeship Program. The members volunteered countless hours to help reduce the cost of the building. By 1998, the Death Benefit Fund, due to its voluntary nature, was in danger of going bankrupt. The officers and members took action and voted to make the death benefit mandatory.