October ’17 Labor Citizen

Brothers and sisters:

The following are Mandatory Meetings for the nomination, election and installation of officers: November 17, December 8 and January 12. Meetings are held at the hall located at 3250 Euclid Avenue and start at 6 pm. Failure to attend will subject you to fines and a possible appearance in front of the Executive Board unless you contact the hall prior to each meeting. If you have any questions you can contact Business Manager Tim Moennich at 216-431-8088 or email him at TMoennich@iueclocal17.org.

The apprentices currently enrolled in the NEIEP program are seeing several changes in how courses are presented and graded. Traditionally the final exam carried all the weight as to whether the apprentice retained the material. Now class participation, homework, practical labs and unit exams are half of the grade with the semester final compromising the second half. This system is consistent with high school and college grading which takes into account the total classroom experience.

At the IUEC national meeting, General President Frank Christensen emphasized that safety must be the first priority of all constructors. While overall fatality numbers are down, over the past three years three IUEC mechanics were killed while working on the bottom floor door lock by not taking positive control of the car.

The Elevator Industry Work Preservation Fund reported that in 2017 the IUEC had an 83 percent market share in North America versus the 14 percent average of all other trades. In Ohio the major push by EIWPF is to establish licensing of elevator constructors. This would end the practice of a building having their “electrician” work on the elevators putting the qualified constructor and the general public at risk. The IUEC, Work Preservation and State Representative Ron Young are working on getting the bill through the legislature.

On the organizing front, the International has brought in 567 new members in the past 24 months. Thank you to all the tradesmen that have called in with information on non-signatory elevator companies. The companies that are signatories to IUEC Local 17 are listed at the bottom of this article. If any tradesman see a non-signatory company working on their job, please contact the IUEC Local 17 hall. Your efforts are appreciated.

As of this writing there are three mechanics on the bench.

Until next month…
Work smart, work safe and slow down for safety

Don
Dknapik@windstream.net