April ’15 Elevator Constructor

Brothers and sisters:

Local 17 has a lot to be proud of this year on the continuing education front. There were ten brothers taking the hydraulic controller class, 13 in the welding class and a whopping 20 members signed up for the scaffolding class.

If none of those offerings appealed to you then just a reminder that NEIEP offers several online courses through their website neiep.org. These offerings were developed so the student can study at their own pace and in their own time. As a constructor, it is important to stay on top of your game by being smarter than what you are working on. We pay for it so use it.

The new certified signal person and rigger class has been accredited by ANSI. This adds more value to your employer for anyone taking this class.

For those looking to add an OSHA 30 certification, John Taylor will be teaching an upcoming class. If you are interested, call Business Manager Tim Moennich at 216-431-8088 or email him at TMoennich@iueclocal17.org.

On the organizing front, Regional Organizer Jim Lowery is set to meet with the owners of Gable Elevator about becoming a signatory and the West Virginia-based Emar Elevator is reportedly ready to sign on as a represented company. Emar did modernization work for Millennium Properties in 2010 and 2011 at Lourexis Senior Housing and Abington Arms both in Cleveland.

A Handel and Sons truck was spotted at the Truman Building on Euclid. Handel is a non-signatory company out of Kent, Ohio that specializes in home and material lifts. They are also known to a lesser extent to do standard commercial elevator work. The general contractor on the job is Pride One, a notoriously anti-union contractor. All the trades on the job were non-signatories and the Cleveland Building Trades decided to have the business agents handbill the job. No news on how that was received at the job site.

The 2015 Local 17 Retiree’s Dinner is tentatively scheduled for May 15 at Frank Sterle’s Slovenian House Restaurant, 1401 East 55th Street Cleveland, Ohio. Letters will be coming soon so you can reserve your place at this well attended annual event to honor those who worked so hard to make Local 17 the best local in the best trade in the trades.
Where are they working?
Bill Sellers and Tim Gibbons doing a door mod at WO Walker for Schindler,

Joe Broz Jr. and Nick Meyer doing a jack at the Drake for Thyssen,

Local 11 mechanic Scott Davis is working with Brother Chris Wyatt installing buck hoists at the Hilton Hotel job for Tri-State Elevator,

Tom Gombar and Clint Williams doing valve conversions at RTA W 25th Street for KOne,

Heath Kramer and Jeff Lindell doing escalator clean downs at the Crate and Barrel for Kone,

Gerard Szmerkovsky and Craig Nolty starting the Flats East Bank project for Otis,

John Logue, Jim Thompson, John Larsen and Steve Keating doing a nine car mod at the Ritz Carlton for Otis,

Jason Sohayda and Jason Saunders working a The Gardens of Lyndhurst for Otis,

John Brunner and Joe Sumph installing two cars at CSU for Schindler,

Mark Byram, Dave Francis, Robin Eaton and Tom Peska working on the escalators at the Hilton Hotel job for Schindler.
The brothers and sisters of Local 17 sends their condolences to the family of retired Brother Richard Stumm who passed.

As of this writing there are 19 mechanics and one apprentice on the bench.

Till next month,

Work smart, work safe and slow down for safety.
Don
DKnapik@windstream.net