[Congressional Record Volume 165, Number 157 (Friday, September 27, 2019)]
[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.

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