Brothers earn cards for 50 years of service
The Bricklayers Association and Allied Craftworkers International Union (B.A.C) gives out gold cards to every member who has served 50 or more years.
Four such cards have found their way into one Butler County family as of 2010, when 74-year-old Regis Bogan of Saxonburg received the honor.
He was preceded by his brothers Robert, 88, of Saxonburg; Dennis “Jim,” 86, of Butler; and Bill, 84, of New Castle.
“I got my gold card last year once I became a 50-year member,” Regis said. “Four brothers in one family with 50 or more years is just amazing.”
Oldest brother Robert has had his gold card for 10 years.
“I am a 60-year member along with my brother Bill,” Robert exclaimed. “There are very few who receive their gold cards.”
Add all the years of the Bogans service to their local union together and the total is 224.
For more than 140 years, the B.A.C. is the oldest working union in the United States.
The union that the brothers belong to is Local Union #9 in Pittsburgh.
Mark Knoch, a union manager, agreed it is uncommon for four brothers from the same union to receive their gold cards.
“These four brothers are a tight group and it is very unusual for all four to receive their cards.”Working for the local union is no strange career for the Bogan family. Union workers have run in their family for generations.“Our dad was a stone mason and used to help us lay stone on Saturday nights,” Dennis said. “Every chance he gave us, we practiced.”From the time a bricklayer starts out as an apprentice to the last brick they lay, their main goal is to the gold card Robert explained.Bricklayers back then did not make the same amount of money workers make today.“We made $3.50 an hour with no pensions and no hospitalization,” Bill sighed. “Every week you got paid in cash so you didn’t have to worry about your check bouncing.”As a token of appreciation, the union also gave the brothers an engraved watch to commemorate their time and dedication.They have worked on many projects together, including the Art Store Museum in Titusville in 1963 and Butler Senior High School.Not only did they serve their unions but they all were in America’s Armed Forces during World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War.
