The history of an organized Plumbers’ Local, in Marietta and the Mid-Ohio Valley, dates well before the Local’s charter with the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada (UA).
Plumbers and Pipefitters Local 168 was chartered by the UA on June 6, 1942, and became part of the United States and Canada’s largest Plumbers and Pipefitters organized Labor Membership. The original fourteen (14) charter members formed an organized Labor group to promote and improve the Plumbing and Pipefitting industry within the City of Marietta, as well as the surrounding areas.
On July 13, 1942, the union’s charter members (Joe Kinsel, Robert Wark, John Bergen, Albert Bergen, Edward Strimel, Herbert Schramm, Carl Glock, Howard Glock, Ralph Starkey, Charles Starkey, Clyde Robinson, Richard Lauer, William Wark, and Stanley Rutter) negotiated a 44-hour work week at the rate of $1.00 per hour, and improved working conditions.
Over the years, Local 168 has played a vital part in the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry in Southeastern Ohio and beyond. The highly trained and skilled members of Local 168 have constructed and maintained every facet of the industry in the Ohio Valley area including residential, light commercial, commercial, and heavy industrial locations. This work has been performed in homes, churches, stores, restaurants, educational institutions, medical facilities, manufacturing facilities, and industrial plants just to name a few. Local 168 skilled Plumbers, Pipefitters, and HVACR Techs work hard to ensure that Marietta and surrounding areas will be a safe, productive, and pleasant place to live.