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From a Humble Beginning
 During the early 1900’s there were dangerous working conditions, poor wages, and little respect for workers throughout the construction industry. On April 13, 1903, the American Federation of Labor granted a charter to the International Hod Carriers and Building Laborers Union. Eight thousand members formed this Union with full jurisdiction over “the common Laborers employed in the mixing of concrete and tending of masons”. For the first time Laborers were able to see economic gain through their tenacious hard work. By 1931 a law was passed to encourage and protect family-supporting wages for construction workers on government financed projects. Known as Davis-Bacon, this law prevented unscrupulous contractors from using public projects to force wages and community standards down.
During the next 30 years a number Laborers’ Local Unions prospered in Southern Illinois as new schools, churches, hospitals, factories, offices and university buildings were being built. In 1940 Connell F. Smith was given the charter for Laborers’ Local 773 in Cairo, Illinois.
The first construction contract for Laborers in the area began with a wage of .55 cents an hour which later became .60 cents an hour. Connell Smith stated that “Laborers were now worth a penny a minute”.
But while membership throughout the International Union reached over 200,000 members, only half of those members were active construction Laborers, the rest were serving in World War II at the height of the conflict. During this time, a historical project was being built known as the Cache River Diversion Project which diverted the flow of the Cache River into the Mississippi River in Alexander County. As union members received their military discharge they would show up at the worksite, still in military uniform, ready to go to work on this project.
In addition to construction Laborers, Local 773 also organized industrial plants during the 1940’s. One of these, Silica Mines and Minerals which later became known as Unimin Specialty Mines and Minerals, still employees members of Local 773.
In 1950 Local 773 took part in the biggest construction project in the history of our country at that time. The construction of atomic plants and power plants in Southern Illinois and Western Kentucky employed over 25,000 building tradesman. 8,000 Laborers’ were employed from 3 Local Unions (the Paducah and Metropolis Local Unions and Local 773) 4,000 Laborers’ from Local 773 were involved in the construction of the plants in Joppa, Illinois, and Kevil and Paducah Kentucky. The “pool office” or dispatch office was at the Cairo Custom House. This job flourished until 1955.
In 1953, as one of the largest locals in Laborers’ International Union of North American Local 773 sent 7 delegates to the International’s 50th anniversary Convention.
By the mid 1950’s during the recession with high unemployment rates and in a defense to an anti-union administration, Laborers International broke free from a tradition of not making political endorsements. Business Manager Connell F. Smith
strived to inform and educate the members on the importance of electing political leaders who would fight for better wages, working conditions, protecting the rights of workers and who also supported the labor movement. In 1956 Laborers’ supported and helped elect Ken Gray to his first term in US Congress. Cong. Gray was instrumental in urging President Dwight D. Eisenhower to sign legislation called the Federal Highway Act creating the Interstate highway system and in 1960 Laborers went to work building Interstate Route 57 which runs through Southern Illinois. The Union also negotiated an agreement with the State of Illinois to dispatch members directly to the Illinois Department of Transportation to repair our roads. These jobs were called day labor jobs.
In the early 1960’s wages for Laborers’ were $2.50 per hour and by the end of the 1960’s the wages tripled to $6.00 per hour. Because of this surge in 1971 President Nixon put a price control cap on wages and they could only increase by 5%.
By the mid 1960’s it became obvious that there was a need for Laborers’ who were retiring after a lifetime career as a Laborers. In 1965 The Central Laborers’ Pension Fund was established to help provide financial security to Laborers’ during their retirement years. During 1966 a total of six hundred dollars was paid to five pensioners.
In 1965 the International Hod Carriers and Building Laborers’ Union changed its name to the Laborers’ International Union of North America
During the early 1970’s Local 773 extended our representation to not only our construction and industrial members, but to public employees as well. This began in the spring of 1975 when Connell F. Smith organized the Pulaski County Highway Department. The employees of the department were on a 54 day strike. Pete Huddleson, Pulaski County Commissioner, attempted to get an injunction against the union but a labor friendly States Attorney by the name of Byron Connell blocked the injunction. Laborers also picketed the small family owned Huddleson grocery store in Olmsted preventing any customers from entering the store. 54 days later the contract for the highway workers was ratified and as a result, a month later, the Alexander County Highway workers were organized when they saw the benefits of being union.
In 1976 Connell F. Smith, the longest serving business manager of Local 773, retired. Edward M. Smith was elected Business
Manager to succeed his father. Edward M. Smith joined Local 773 in 1968, at the age of 13, working his way through school as a construction laborer. Edward M. Smith was the first Local 773 member to graduate from the Harvard University Trade Union Program and the first LINUA member to graduate from the National Labor College in 1978. He remained the Business Manager of Local 773 until 1994 when he went on to become Vice President of LIUNA and Midwest Regional Manager.
He was the founder of many new programs that were being introduced during this time. In 1975 he began the Local 773 Industrial Pension which is now the Southern Illinois Laborers’ & Employers Annuity Fund. Two years later he started the Southern Illinois Laborers’ & Employers Health and Welfare Fund. That same year, the Southern Illinois Labor Council began with Edward M. Smith serving as the President. He also started new programs that were being introduced through the International Union, such as the Midwest Region Health and Safety Fund, and Laborers and Employers Cooperation and Education Trust (LECET) and the Midwest Region Organizing Committee (MROC) which was the first regional organizing committee in the Laborers’ International Union.
During the early 1980’s there was a period of high unemployment and a very anti-union government. During a strike, employees could be permanently replaced by strikebreakers or “scab workers” who were willing to work despite the Union’s involvement to protect the worker. But in 1984 Illinois passed the Public Employee Bargaining Law which made it possible to organize public employees. Before this time it was up to the employer to allow the employees to organize.
The establishment of Local 773’s Political Action Committee made Laborers’ a political force in Southern Illinois. It helped elect Glen Poshard State Senator and he became the Chair of the Illinois Senate Labor Committee, a first for Southern Illinois.
In 1986, Business Manager Edward M. Smith sought the opportunity to assist the families of its members with the need to further their education. He established the Connell F. Smith-Homer Brown Scholarship Fund which assisted members with the financial support needed to lead successful and productive lives. Since then with the help of our friends. colleges and supporters, Local 773 has raised over $250,000 and awarded nearly 300 scholarships to deserving college students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to go to school.
The early 1990’s brought on the height of the construction projects for Laborers including the building of the Olmsted Lock and Dam and the Bill Emerson Bridge formerly known as the Cape Girardeau Bridge. Labor disputes also erupted in the late 90’s as the Ohio Bridge in Cairo was being repaired by a Kentucky non-union contractor which started the construction repair on the Kentucky side of the bridge. This resulted in the bridge being shut down until the work on the job was done by union labor.
In 1993 Business Manager Edward M. Smith became aware of the critical need for a treatment facility for area children and brought this need to the attention of the Union’s membership. The Laborers’ in Southern Illinois went right to work donating labor and financial assistance to build a project that would provide therapy to disabled children who otherwise would go without. By 1994 the Therapy Center of Southern Illinois opened its doors. All services of TLC are provided free of charge and made possible by the fundraising efforts of the Laborers each year. This Center serves the needs of disabled children through out the region specializing in physical and speech therapy and providing free intensive pediatric therapy to more than 350 children annually. Thirteen years later the Laborers celebrated raising more than $1 million dollars and the Center’s mortgage was paid off.
In 1999 LIUNA established a National Retiree Council, which is comprised of prominent retired members who were appointed from each Region. In 2006 Local 773 received its own Retiree Charter and elected a Retiree Council to serve the many needs of the members who have moved into retirement. Thanks to the hard working men and women who have remained devoted throughout their lives to the goals, ideals and values of our retired members, Local 773 today has one of the strongest, most active retiree councils in the Midwest Region. The knowledge and skills in organizing and political action and history of this Local is invaluable. As of 2010 Local 773’s retiree council has over 300 retiree members and 40 gold card members (members with at least 50 years of membership).
By early 2000 as the need for more uniform cooperation between the local unions emerged, Local 1274 in Springfield merged with Local 773 making it the only local union in LIUNA to represent members of railroad maintenance workers across 41 states. Local 1274 also brought several more public employee units such as public employee members in Columbia and Kirksville Missouri as well as members in Northern and Central Illinois. And by 2003, eight more Local Laborers Unions across Southern Illinois joined together to make up the new Laborers Local 773. Locals 227 in Carbondale, 529 in Benton, 508 in Carterville, 577 in Marion, 738 in DuQuoin, 803 in Eddyville and 962 at Southern Illinois University combined and relocated in Marion, Illinois, making Local 773 one of the most powerful locals in the International.
Two years later Laborers Local 773 and the Southern and Central Illinois Laborers District Council held the grand opening of its new facility as the beginning of a new era. Also included was the groundbreaking for the new Marion Training Complex. This development not only involved our construction members, but hundreds of new members which formed one of the most diverse and recognized Locals in the Laborers’ International Union of North America.
Today, under the Leadership of Business Manager John E. Taylor, Local 773 currently represents over 4,500 members across
41 states nationwide including 800 members of railroad maintenance, 650 public employee members in the State of Missouri and more than 2,700 members of the healthcare, industrial, service members and law enforcement and more than 500 members in the construction industry in the thirteen Southernmost Illinois counties.
We are also proud of our grass roots political savvy. Local 773 has one of the fastest growing political activist groups in LIUNA
which not only includes hundreds of volunteers who knock on countless doors and make thousands of phone calls during the election season but also includes Local 773 members that are elected officials including Congressmen, State Senators and State Representatives
Local 773 is also proud to be one of the top fundraising locals across the nation for a number charitable organizations such as the Poshard Foundation for abused women, Bikers for kids and the Therapy Learning Center for disabled children. Each year Local 773 also hosts the Annual Edward M. Smith Scholarship Golf Outing to raise money to enable deserving members and their families to further their education.
From its humble beginnings in the 1940s in Alexander and Pulaski Counties in Southern Illinois to now representing 4,500 members in 41 states, Local 773 has grown to become one of the largest Locals in the Laborers’ International Union of North America and will continue to grow with the help of its dedicated officers, staff and the membership of Local 773.
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