John Creller

To provide our members with the best level of benefits possible, and to provide our contractors with the best qualified masons that there are.

What’s the membership?

Local 15 has about 1,883. The chapter in Springfield has about 182 active members. Local 15 covers the state of Kansas and part of the state of Missouri.

Who can join?

Anyone. We don’t discriminate, if they’re physically capable of doing the work. We have a three-and-a-half year apprenticeship program. We train for bricklaying, blocklaying, marble masons, stone masons, tile setters, cement finishers, plasterers. Anything that has to do with a trowel, that’s what we train for.

What big issues do your members face?

The rising cost of health care; the possibility of “right to work” coming to Missouri.

How does the union help with those?

We just do what we can on the political level. (For health care) we offer insurance benefits.

Is the health insurance open to all members?

As a matter of fact, it’s mandatory. It’s a group deal (and) once you become a member, you have to participate. It’s a self-funded plan. We do not buy health insurance from an insurance company, and because of that, we can control costs better and provide better benefits.

How do you work to control those costs?

Safety training is a very large part of our apprentice program. We have journeyman upgrade classes and we have the Occupational Safety and Health Administration 10-hour and 30-hour classes that we put on for all members. We have first aid and CPR for all of our members. We try to make sure that 80 percent or better of our members have a certification card for first aid, CPR and OSHA in their pockets at all times.

Why did you get involved with Salute?

One reason was the Career Days for the high schools that Salute has. The biggest reason was (to dispel) the misconceptions that people have – especially in southwest Missouri – about the unions. The unions are always perceived as “the bad guys.” We’re not. The misconceptions that we force our contractors to be part of the union – there’s just a lot of them. The more we can get out there and talk to people, people will see what we are truly all about, and hopefully, we can make ourselves stronger, and make southwest Missouri a better place for the blue-collar worker.