Author: IUEC Local 17 Website Administrator

Brothers and sisters:

First off I would like to thank everyone who turned out for the Volunteer Organizing Committee meeting on July 16th. In addition to the regular VOC attendees, several new faces added fresh ideas to the mix.
The main subject of the meeting was instructing members on the do’s and don’ts of picketing. While it is similar to the hand billing we have been successfully conducting on East Fourth there are some very strict rules associated with picketing that do not apply to hand billing. Attending the meeting was IUEC organizer Jim Lowery who helped answer the questions from the room.

The committee is asking every IUEC Local 17 member to donate two vacation days to the picket effort. Please talk to your superintendent as soon as possible so they can plan for your participation.

On Monday, July 21 the VOC attended the Beachwood School Board meeting. The school system currently contracts with Gable for its maintenance needs on the four hydraulic elevators and three chair lifts in its system. The response to the VOC from area school boards has been overwhelmingly positive. The group talks about the overall education needed to be counted as one of the best tradesmen in the trades and emphasizes the safety requirements we have to adhere to in all aspects of our work.

To our brothers and sisters in the other trades, continue calling the hall whenever you note a non-signatory elevator company on one of your jobs. You can contact Business Manager Tim Moennich at 216-431-8088 or email him at TMoennich@iueclocal17.org. IUEC Local 17 signatory companies are Kone, Maximum, Otis, Ross, Schindler and Thyssen.

On an upbeat note, every one of Local 17 apprentices passed their previous year’s final exam. Apprentices should also note that the fall semester will be starting August 13th with a two-hour orientation class.

There is currently a signup sheet for a scaffolding class and Business Manager Tim Moennich is still working on a date in the fall for a welding class. If you are interested in either class, please contact Tim at the hall.

Local 17 sends its condolences to the family of former member Doug Green who passed away June 17th.

As a general reminder, there is no August meeting. The next regular meeting will be September 12 at 6 pm at the hall located at 3250 Euclid Ave. Please plan on attending.

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

Brothers and sisters:

There is a lot going on so I’ll get right into it…

There has been a great deal of activity on the part of the IUEC Local 17 Volunteer Organizing Committee. To date the group has attended three school board meetings (Solon, Amherst and Maple Heights) and received positive responses from board members and superintendents about our emphasis on elevator safety, safe work practices and the general educational requirements to be employed in this very dangerous trade. The VOC is planning on attending more meetings through the summer and into the fall when contracts are generally let out for bidding.

The VOC has spent a great deal of time hand billing East Fourth Street. While we may not have slowed the flow of restaurant and entertainment patrons, there has been headway with residents, business owners and managers. The flyer each one receives talks about elevator safety and the importance of being sure that the elevators they rely on everyday are maintained by the best tradesmen in the trades. These buildings are owned by developer Rick Maron and the elevators maintained by Gable Elevator, a non-signatory company.

At the June meeting, the local passed a resolution offering reduced initiation fees and monthly dues to employees of Gable who wish to go on the local’s list. This reduction in fees would last until the employee is picked up by a signatory company or Gable signs on to our contract and then the full fees would be in force.

There is a VERY IMPORTANT meeting of the VOC on July 16th at 5 pm at the school at East 28th and Superior Ave. to go over the rules and responsibilities of picketing. International organizer Jim Lowery will be there to answer any questions and run the meeting. Everyone is invited to come and give their input. The local is also asking each and every member to be available for two days of picket duty. Please talk with your supervisor about this very important part of keeping our work. Also, watch the local’s website, iueclocal17.org, for picket updates.

At the June meeting there was a bit of a changing of the guard. Long-time Local 17 officer Dennis Dixon retired from his post as Treasurer and was replaced by John Driscoll, Jr. Jason Fredrick was named and sworn in to fill Driscoll’s vacant trustee seat by President Brian McTaggart. Denny served Local 17 for 23 years as an officer in one capacity or another. If you see him out and about, be sure and say hello and thank him for his tireless work.

A note to all apprentices… fall semester classes will start in early August and you will be attending the 700 and 800 series classes.

To all the members holding welding cards, please get your documentation into the hall in order to maintain your certification. If you have a scaffolding card, it expired in November of 2013.

NEIEP is now offering a CPR and first aid class in cooperation with the American Heart Association. Besides learning this valuable skill, participants will receive a certificate that is valid for two years. There is also a virtual code course available through the website, neiep.org, which will help constructors learn about code requirements and related topics.

On the entertainment front, there were 77 members, 34 active and 43 retired, in attendance at the Retiree’s Dinner held at Frank Sterle’s. This is one of those events that everyone who attends enjoys because the faces are all friendly, the beer is cold and everyone walks away with a smile and good memories. Keep August 23rd open for a possible second golf outing. There are no details as of yet but when or if they come to fruition, they will be posted on iueclocal17.org.

I hope that all the fathers or fathers-to-be reading this article had a great Father’s Day. While we do not get all the press mothers do, our part in raising a happy and healthy child is very important. Remember, when you are watching the kids you are not a babysitter, babysitters are someone you hire to watch your kids, you are a parent and it is called parenting.

On May16, IUEC Local 17 held its annual Retiree’s Dinner at Frank Sterle’s Slovenian House Restaurant. This is always a great time for past and present members to get together and swap stories about when “men were made of steel and rails were wood.” During the fifty-fifty raffle Al Jerson along with retirees Joe Lijana, Lenny Kessler and John Ward took single honors and the big double winners were Hugh Taylor and retiree Bob Hess.

Taking home service pins were Tim Moore and John Patton for 25 years in the business; Dan Tinner for 30 years; Jack Saunders, Tim Moennich, Dennis Dixon and Rick Myers each took home 35 year pins and the big winner of the night was Pat Culligan who is celebrating 40 years in the elevator business. Congratulations to everyone on reaching these career milestones!

Those of you that have signaling and rigging cards from NEIEP please take note. Your cards are good for three years. In the final year of your certification you must go to the NEIEP website and open a recertification link at the bottom of the screen. This can be done any time in the last twelve months of certification.

If you hold a scaffolding card and need to renew your license there is no refresher course, you must take the course again. It is a 12-hour course and if there is enough interest Local 17 will schedule a class.

NEIEP is also offering OSHA 10 certification through the website. It is a ten hour course that covers all aspects of OSHA and is required on many construction and large modernization jobs.

In May two issues passed that should help out the organized trades. First was state Issue 1 which is set to fund infrastructure projects like roads, bridges and schools. It is expected to help all 88 Ohio counties pay for these important public improvements.

Also passing was county Issue 7, the Sin Tax renewal on cigarettes and alcohol. All three of the major Cleveland sports teams backed this effort to help maintain their venues. The large advantage for the trades is they do all of their work through union contractors and the expected upgrades to the facilities should keep the trades working for some time.

The ACT-Ohio website has added a new link called Campus Safety Information. This was created to address the hiring of non-union contractors at Ohio campuses. The site includes photos of OSHA violations and is setup to prevent dangerous situations from developing on college campuses. There is a link to the ACT-Ohio site through iueclocal17.org on the Links page.

There has been some concern recently about company truck drivers and what they can and cannot do. On a construction site, if IUEC members are not allowed to operate the lift truck, then the truck will be unloaded by hand. If you are on service, the company drivers are not allowed to unload or pickup weights or any job material without a member there to do the work. If you have any questions, call Business Manager Tim Moennich at 216-431-8088 or email him at TMoennich@iueclocal17.org.

The Volunteer Organizing Committee will be hand billing twice in the month of June and once in July. If you would like to be a part of the effort to recapture our work, please give Tim a call so we can show up in force.
The VOC would also like to thank everyone that continues to call the hall with information on non-signatory elevator companies working around town. The signatories to IUEC Local 17 are Kone, Maximum, Otis, Ross, Schindler and Thyssen Elevator.