Author: IUEC Local 17 Website Administrator

Brothers and Sisters:

For all of you that missed it, the 2024 Local 17 Children’s Christmas Party was held December 14 at the hall.  It was a very well attended event and all the children enjoyed the entertainment and the opportunity to meet Santa.  For photos of the event, go to the Local’s website, iueclocal17.org, and peruse the gallery for your favorite moment.

The Spring semester starts January 20th with the orientation taking place the week prior.  The 50 apprentices in school will be divided between RC 200, 300, 400 and either 700 or 800.  

It is the apprentices responsibility to make class a priority.  Your school night is your school night.  The only acceptable excuses for absences are illness or previously scheduled overtime.  Future make up classes will be scheduled as needed for Saturday morning from 8am to noon.

Eight members recently attended and were certified in fork lift and boom truck operation in a class taught by Brother Tim Narowitz.  This is only one of the continuing education classes offered to members through NEIEP.  If there is a class you would like to see offered, contact Business Manager John Driscoll Jr at the hall at 216-431-8088 or email him at JEDriscoll@iueclocal17.org.

Elevator licensing took effect in Ohio November 1, 2024 and all contractors and mechanics have until November 1, 2025 to obtain their state license.  For more information, go to the Local’s or the State of Ohio Department of Industrial Compliance website.

Where are they working?

Jim Thompson and Eric Johnson at Cleveland Clinic TT doing a mod for Otis,

Craig Nolty, Dion Yatsko, Luke Schnitzler and Mike Janson at Cleveland Clinic Cole Eye Center installing cars for Otis,

DJ Spring and Mike Hassel at Margaret Wagner doing a two-car mod for Otis,

Pat Pollock and Mark Thomason at Cleveland Clinic F doing a mod for Otis,

Ric Supinski, Joel Reyes, Joe Simcic, Lee Barkschat, Ed Gimmell, Del Gay, Jeremy Sesma, Nick Bowlen, Cory Oldham, Cody Dempster, Marcus Luxenburg, Kyle Drnak, Adam Farhm and Preston Patterson at Sherwin-Williams doing a bunch of cars for Schindler,

Matt harden, Andrea Rodriquez and Dave Adrian running cars at Sherwin For Schindler,

Matt Weingart and Ricky Kemp doing a mod at the Federal Reserve for Schindler,

Brian Bond, Mike Gallagher, Brian Seither and Jarrett Adams at Lakeview Campus doing a six-car mod for Schindler,

Joe Sumph and Gary Thompson at WO Walker doing a two-car most for Schindler,

Shawn Yatsko and tom Holian at Waldorf Manor doing a one-car mod for Schindler,

Don Yoho and Adam Klein Finishing up a one-car installation at Franciscan Village,

Sean Canning and Jason Barnett at Van Horne in Carrolton installing a car for Schindler,

Dave Gnagy and Jay Carlson doing hydro mods at NASA,

rob Timko and Matt Carlton at Painesville Administration doing a one-car mod for Schindler,

Jack Finucan and Brandon LaFontaine doing a pump unit at Black And Decker for Schindler,

Pat McCann and Brandon Alley doing a door mod at the Luckman for Schindler,

Mike Hogan and Aaron Sipos at Progressive Field winterizing the escalators,

Russell Barrows and Herb Fouts at Peninsula Apartments installing cars for Kone,

Mike Miller and Ellaina Harris at Oberlin apartments installing cars for Kone,

Joe Gauker and Ryan Bissel at Breezeway installing tow hydros for Kone,

Pat Kelly and John Smith installing one car one east 125th for Kone,

Ernie Rodriguez and Bob Savnik in Ashtabula doing a two-car mod for Kone,

James Hirz and Justten Kavedzic at Post Office Plaza doing a mod for Kone,

Todd Ross and Eric Schaffran doing a mod at Bulkley Building for Kone,

Drew Williams and Jake Driscoll at Tyler Building doing a one-car mod for Kone,

Ken Bowles and Sasha Vujkovic at 11770 Berea road doing a door mod for Kone,

Tim Narowitz and Jack McTaggart doing a mod at Gemini Towers for TKElevator,

Bill Dudas and Vincent Smrdel at Randal Park Apartments doing a two-car mod for TKElevator,

Jason Frederick and Brad Skotko doing a mod at Wade Park for TKElevator,

Kevin Thomas and Matt Ramser at AMT in Brecksville installing a car for TKElevator,

Chris Sipos and Christian Thompson at Hathaway Brown doing a mod for TKElevator,

Anthony Metcalf and John Ranney at Pearl Crossing doing a mod for TKElevator,

Jim Ehrbar and Dan Quigley at Perry Payne doing a mod for 3Phase,

Marc Carollo and Brian Owens at Tudor Arms doing a mod for 3Phase,

Chris Scholle and Jack Corrigan at Kappa House doing a mod for 3Phase.

As of this writing the bench is clear.

Until next month…

Work smart, work safe and slow down for safety.

Don

DKnapik@windstream.net

Retired Brother Jim Ross with Vice President Al Gore in a photo taken at the Federal Courthouse during the 2000 presidential election.  The picture has been hanging in Samsel Supply for 24 years.  Samsel closed after 66 years of service and returned the photo to Ross.

Brothers and Sisters:

The IUEC Local 17 Annual Children’s Christmas Party will be held Saturday, December 14 at 1pm at the hall located at 3250 Euclid Avenue.  Children up to 12 years old will receive gifts.  Local 17 will be catering light appetizers and beverages.  Members are encouraged to bring baked goods.  Contact Business Manager John Driscoll Jr at the hall at 216-431-8088 or email him at JEDriscoll@iueclocal17.org or Entertainment Chairman Todd Kemp with any questions about this always fun and well attended event.

The December 13, 2024 and January 10, 2025 meetings are mandatory meetings for the election and installation of officers.  Members not in attendance without a recognized reason will be fined by the Executive Board.

As this publication reaches your mailbox, apprentices should be preparing for their final exams for the Fall semester.  None of you should need to be reminded that all homework, tests and attendance must be up to date prior to sitting for your final.  Do not let something you directly control hold you back from advancing in the program.

Congratulations to Mike Miller Jr and Aaron Sipos on passing the Mechanics Exam.  To all apprentices looking forward to the challenge;  passing the exam is the only unbiased evaluation of your knowledge of the trade.  Use the time between where you are and where you want to be to its full advantage.  Your mechanics, peers and instructors are incredible sources of knowledge to round out and fill in the areas you may struggle to understand.  Learning the trade does not stop with the Exam, it is a career-long quest to keep up with changing technology and techniques.  Everyone’s ultimate goal should be to become a resource for those who will follow in our footsteps and carry on our work.  

Local 17 is planning a welding class to be held in early January between the Fall and Spring semesters.  The Local holds its classes at the world headquarters of Lincoln Electric in Euclid.  The course is a 40 hour course (10 nights at four hours per night) giving the student the opportunity to earn a 3G and 4G welding certification.  Those interested in taking the class must complete the CE019 Welding Preparation course on the NEIEP website, neiep.org.  For more information, contact John at the hall.

A reminder that those Brothers and Sisters requiring Continuing Education hours per the current contract, visit the NEIEP website, neiep.org, to sign up and complete the course before the end of the year.

Independent company Maximum Elevator has been bought by ATTA out of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.  This is ATTA’s second move into the US market as they recently completed the purchase of a St. Louis independent.  The goal of the new ownership is to grow the business beyond maintenance and small repair into modernization work.  Former Thyssen supervisor Lou Cozza will run the operation.  As the company grows, this gives Local members an additional work option.

Work in Cleveland has been steady with full employment and many transients working in the jurisdiction.  Schindler is still working the Sherwin-Williams job which will continue into the second quarter of 2025 as well as thirteen additional mod and construction jobs.  KONE is operating 12 construction or mod jobs while TKElevator and Otis currently have six crews on construction or mod while Gable/3 Phase has four mod teams in the field.  

As of this writing the bench is clear.

Until next month…

Work smart, work safe and slow down for safety.

Don

DKnapik@windstream.net

Brother Fran Adams (right) stands under the IUEC Local 17 seal with his sons Jarrett (left) and newly sworn-in Spencer at the October 2024 meeting.

Eric Johnson, Spencer Adams, Todd Ault and Ryan Bissell are sworn-in at the October 2024 meeting.  Standing behind them (left to right) Recording Secretary Joe Broz Jr, President John Patton and Business Manager John Driscoll Jr.

The Cleveland skyline looking north in the moments prior to dawn.  From left the new Sherwin Williams world headquarters peaks out from behind the Terminal Tower.  Center is Key Tower and to the right 200 Public Square. 

Brothers and Sisters:

The Annual Local 17 Children’s Christmas Party will be held Saturday, December 14 at the hall located at 3250 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland.  There will be gifts for children 12 and younger.  Watch your mail for the sign up slip and return it as soon as possible to the hall.

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.

Local 17 is holding a forklift certification class at the hall.  The class is designed for those seeking a forklift certification for use on construction sites.  Brother Tim Narowitz is teaching the eight-hour class.

For those interested in a welding class, Local 17 is tentatively set for January 2025.   This gives apprentices and those interested mechanics the opportunity to get a 3G and 4G certification.  This is a 40-hour class held for four hours a night over two weeks.  To register, compete CW019 Welding Preparation class on the NEIEP website, neiep.org, under the Training, Training and Licensing, Welding Training menus.  For more information contact John at the hall.

Another classroom space has been added in the basement of the school.  This gives the Local the opportunity to offer additional continuing education classes as well as make-up classes as needed.  All classrooms have been painted in the standard NEIEP color scheme and logos added to each classroom.  This is part of an effort by the organization to standardize the learning experience across the International.  The work was done by a local signatory painter.    

So far, there have not been any reported issues with the vacation checks issued July 15 or the pay raises due the apprentices the first full pay period after September 1.  

At the September meeting it was announced Brother Al Jerson was stepping down ahead of retirement as a trustee of Local 17.  Jerson had 40 years in the trade and spent the last 16 years as a trustee handling the officers payroll, withholding taxes and W2s.  He was elected in 2008 and helped shepherd the Local through the economic downturn of that year as well as shore up the finances during that rough period in the Local’s history.  

Brother Brian Chambers was appointed by President John Patton to take his place and was sworn in as a trustee.  Chambers most recent officer role was as the Entertainment Chairman.

Retirement is something we all strive to achieve.  The notion of having total control over your day is an especially enticing notion since our employers have us scheduled to the moment, geopositioned to within six feet and increase our responsibilities without a consummate increase in authority to perform them. 

What happens when that constant onslaught of demands suddenly ends?  Quiet.

The quiet of a day without the the screech of an alarm notifying the recipient of yet another requested visit by a customer looking to keep their ancient elevator running for yet another sixty years.  The constant phone calls demanding “what’s your ETA, the customer is complaining about (fill in the blank), I need you to get there, what do you mean you left their only car down?”  

This is why good men and women seek release in a liquid concoction or find themselves in a corner in the fetal position. 

And then… quiet.

As of this publication date, four years, seven months and twenty-eight days to go.  

Not that I’m counting.  

As of this writing there is one mechanic on the bench.

Until next month,

Work smart, work safe and slow down for safety.

Don

DKnapik@windstream.net

Brother Al Jerson addresses the body as he announces his retirement as an IUEC Local 17 trustee and from the trade.  Jerson spent 16 years as a trustee position.

Brother Brian Chambers is sworn in as the newest trustee of IUEC Local 17.  Behind him (left to right) Recording Secretary Brother Joe Broz Jr, President John Patton and Business Manager John Driscoll Jr.

Incoming and outgoing trustees Brothers Brian Chambers and Al Jerson.

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.