BLOOMFIELD TWP, Mich. – Operating Engineers 324 today praised Sen. Tom Casperson, who passed away on Sunday, as a friend and advocate of working families in the Upper Peninsula and across Michigan.

“Sen. Tom Casperson was a friend of working families and supported good wages, safe workplaces and a stronger voice for those of us who work in the construction industry and the skilled trades, and he will be missed,” said Douglas W. Stockwell, Operating Engineers 324 Business Manager. “Sen. Casperson put the wellbeing of working men and women in the Upper Peninsula first. The 14,000 men and women who work as operating engineers express our deepest condolences to Sen. Casperson’s family, his friends and the Upper Peninsula communities that he represented so well for so many years.”

Sen. Casperson died after a two-year battle with lung cancer.

Sen. Casperson of Escanaba represented his Upper Peninsula district in the state Senate from 2011 to 2018. He served in the state House from 2003 to 2008.

In 2012, he stood up to Party leaders when he opposed so-called Right to Work legislation that aimed to gut organized labor and silence unions and their members. In 2015 and 2018, Sen. Casperson also opposed legislation to repeal prevailing wages.