October ’24 Elevator Constructor

Brothers and Sisters:

The November 8 and December 13, 2024 and January 10, 2025 meetings are Special Called Meetings for the nomination, election and installation of officers.  All members are expected to attend unless otherwise exempt per Local 17 By-Laws.  Exemptions must be called into the hall at 216-431-8088 or by contacting Business Manager John Driscoll Jr at JEDriscoll@iueclocal17.org.  Members not in attendance will be fined.

Over the course of the last six years I’ve had the pleasure of being able to instruct our Local 17 apprentices in a number of RC subjects.  Every semester starts out with the orientation night with the Area Coordinator and the first class night the mandatory two-hour sexual harassment training.  After a few semesters, this has become routine.

The start of the third hour of week one is where the instruction begins.  One of the early questions I like to pose to the class is “what did you do before the elevator trade?”  I’ve had a real variety of answers and the breadth of experience in every class amazes me every semester.

I’ve had apprentices only a year or two out of high school all the way up to full-blown journeymen tradesmen.  In Local 17 we have one mechanic who taught welding and signed the cards of half the Local.  There is more than one member who worked for the railroad and gave that up for a career that allowed for more family time.

In one of my RC 200 classes I had apprentices who worked together as tree trimmers and helped with knot tying as we worked to get the class their SIG RIG cards.  When I taught RC 800, I had a Year Three apprentice who was a journeyman boilermaker who I asked to correct me if I made a mistake on running pipe.  In another I substituted during an RC 600 with an electrician who helped explain a particularly sketchy solid-state circuit.  More than a few have been in in the armed forces and showed the discipline to keep up with their work and excel in the field.

The first semester Year One apprentices are the most wide-eyed and impressionable.  They come to the trade with only the experience they bring from their previous employment and what they have learned in the field from their mechanics.

The trade and their career path are filled with possibilities.  I tell them the story of Rick Myers and how he started work in Cleveland, worked full-time at NEIEP, went back into the field and had the opportunity to travel the world for Otis.  I then point out that on page four of every issue of this magazine is a list of International officers who all started in the business by stacking rails, building cabs, setting machines, running hundreds of miles of travel cord and wire rope and studying for the semester finals that would determine if they could advance in the program along with the shared anxiety of the Mechanics Exam.

Each and every one of them started exactly where these apprentices currently are:  working eight hours during the day and studying at night while fulfilling their family obligations.  I also point out that for some reason, each and everyone of them took a chance and became active in their Local and then the International.  

I tell my Year Ones this is a trade that offers so much opportunity for experience and to make a real, positive difference in the lives of members and their families.  This is the place they start but, it does not have to be the place where they finish.

Until next month,

Work smart, work safe and slow down for safety.

Don

DKnapik@windstream.net

Local 17 apprentice Mike Piela with his wife Heather and their children Joey and Celina pause for a photo on a rainy day in Old Town Krakow, Poland.

The IUEC Local 17 softball team at the 2024 Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Labor Day Softball Tournament.

Local 17 softball coach Rich Kemp takes a moment during a tough loss to Pipefitters 120 during the 2024 Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Labor Day Softball Tournament. 

The infield gets ready for the next pitch during the softball game with Carpenters 435 at the 2024 Cleveland Building and Construction Trades Softball Tournament.