Obituary: Ironworkers Union President Walter Wise, 74, Led New Safety Initiatives
Walter W. Wise Jr., 74, a union ironworker since 1973 who as past president of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers launched key worker safety and development programs, died Feb. 12.
Walter W. Wise Jr., 74, a union ironworker since 1973 who as past president of the International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Iron Workers launched key worker safety and development programs, died Feb. 12 in Hendersonville, N.C, said an online obituary released by the National Academy of Construction, into which he was inducted in 2018. No cause of death was disclosed.
Wise studied university-level civil engineering at Virginia Tech before pursuing his craft career, ultimately taking local, regional and national union leadership roles. As ironworkers' union general president from 2011 to 2015, he launched the “See Something! Say Something!” initiative to boost acceptance of a more collaborative jobsite safety culture in the industry. “You are your brother’s and sister’s keeper, and if you’re not willing to say something to them on the job when they’re being unsafe, what are you going to say to their loved ones?” Wise said of the safety program.
He also was responsible for starting—with the union’s existing IMPACT labor-management arm—a “zero-fatality” campaign in 2012 following the deaths of three union members at the former World Trade Center site in New York City due to falls. The effort was said to have contributed to an 80% reduction in ironworker fatalities compared to previous five-year averages and would be a model for subsequent safety efforts.
Wise was "driven tirelessly" to provide career opportunities for North American union members, said IMPACT CEO Kevin Hilton. "I loved working with him."
But durng Wise's tenure, the international union also was forced to assume management of its Philadelphia local 401 after several managers and members were indicted on charges that include racketeering, conspiracy and arson at non-union projects, ENR reported in 2014.
Wise also served on the AFL-CIO’s executive council and was treasurer of the National Coordinating Committee for Multiemployer Plans. He touted union training in broadened national certification for welders and publicly advocated for greater federal attention to infrastructure investment. "We need to question why political battles at the congressional level have gummed up the funding for improving America’s bridges. This is a slow-motion scandal with far-ranging implications," he said in a 2013 CNN opinion.
At his retirement, the AFL-CIO said the union's impact on the wider industry was “a testament in part to Wise’s drive, passion and focus.”
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