Leroy Edwards, (left) accepts his Gold Card and 50-year pin from the Laborers International of North America from Laborers Local 663 Business Agent Tim Price of Galena. Leroy, who lived most of his life in Reeds Spring, was honored for having paid his monthly union dues without fail since joining the Laborers in 1968. Leroy, 73, retired in 2004. The Gold Card means he won’t ever have to pay dues again. (Photo courtesy Laborers Local 663).

TRAINING: When you see a union laborer, you are seeing one of the best-trained, most skilled and most experienced laborers in the construction industry. Many of our members got their start as union laborers with apprenticeship training at the Laborers Training Center in Belton, MO.

It offers both classroom and hands-on instruction in every discipline a laborer will need to do the dozens of jobs they do. Here's a look at many of the important lessons laborers in Western Missouri and Kansas learn at our Belton Training Center.

Right to Work Hurts Missouri families is a YouTube channel which features the faces and voices of laborers, retirees, surviving spouses and family members sharing their stories of how the union has improved their lives. It also allows them to speak out against Right to Work and a repeal of Missouri’s prevailing wage. Please subscribe to the channel, and share the information with your family and friends to help us fight and win this battle.

Jeff Phillips, Laborers' Local 663 Communications Manager

After seeing a defense of right to work from an anti-labor spokesman printed in the Columbia Daily Tribune, our Communications and Outreach Manager, Jeff Phillips, fired back with a taste of the truth for readers in his old college town. Here’s his letter to the editor.

District Councils of the Midwest Region