Tag: Meeting notice

December ’12 Elevator Constructor

Brothers and sisters:

As I write this, the devastation wrought by Hurricane Sandy is being assessed, families are being reunited and the cleanup is just beginning by a devastated and numb east coast.  I can speak for everyone in Local 17 by wishing our brothers and sisters who stood in the way of the storm and their families are safe.

At the height of the storm I was called out to a sixteen-story downtown office building.  In order to access the machine room I had to cross 30 feet of roof.  Because I was about 180 feet in the air and the wind was blowing between the surrounding buildings, the sustained 65 mph winds and 85 mph gusts were accelerated to God knows how fast.  I opened the stairwell door and looked out onto what can only be described as a simultaneously amazing and horrifying site.

The pure, unbridled power of the storm literally in my face.

An access door across the roof hung on a single hinge.  A vent cap blew left to right and over the 180 foot parapet.  I felt my feet turn to lead and my knuckles turn white as I held the handle in a death grip.  I contemplated for a long moment going out into the melee when the wind slammed the door in my face.  The howling on the other side was greater than several freight trains roaring up a steep grade.

Over the years I have read several books about high altitude climbers swept off mountains and to their deaths by high winds.  I thought again about braving the storm.  Making my way to the ladder secured to the machine room, holding on to the conduit strapped to the outside to get to the door and then completing the circuit back.   Ultimately I decided that being swept off the top of a building was not the way I wanted to be remembered.  I called the superintendent and he agreed that cooler heads needed to prevail.

The customer would have to wait out the storm.

The December and January meetings are mandatory meetings for the election and installation of officers.  At the December meeting there will be a vote on an additional $10 increase of the dues in addition to the $10 requested by the Treasurer and Trustees.

Congratulations to Ed Gimmel, Ryan Foley, Nick Meyer and Chris Wyant for passing the Mechanics Exam.  Remember that this is just the beginning of a long and very rewarding career.  Do not allow yourself be pushed to finish a job quickly rather than safely.

Where are they working?

Tim Narowitz and Dave Adrian doing a mod at Quarrytown in Berea for Thyssen,

Mike Miller and Joe Gouker installing a freight car at Nestles for Otis,

Darrell Scislo and Maxwell Desotell doing service work for Otis,

Jim Archer and Ryan Todd doing a one-car mod at Huntington Bank Berea for Schindler,

John Logue, Ken Hasek, Scott Villanueva, Craig Haller, Jason Saunders, Tim Gibbons and Steven Keating working at Key Tower for Otis,

Ron Wittwage and Taurus Ogletree installing a three-stop hydro at Lorain Community College for Schindler,

Jim Thompson and Jonathan Koch installing an elevator at Metro South Parking Garage for Otis,

Al Ward, Jason Sohayda, Ric Supinski and Lucas Jenke installing cars at Fairview Hospital for Otis,

Todd Kemp and Ken Leonard installing a Life Jacket at Chestnut Lake Apartments for Edmonds,

Dennis Dixon and Fran Adams doing a mod at Moreland Courts for Kone.

 

As of this writing, everyone who wants to work is working.

 

Till next month…

 

Work smart, work safe and slow down for safety.

 

Don

dknapik@windstream.net

November ’11 Cleveland Citizen

Brothers and sisters:

The North Shore Federation of Labor is asking your support for our union brothers and sisters in the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 880 (UFCW) and their efforts to negotiate a fair contract with Rite Aid.  While Rite Aid’s profits have soared they have cut hours and benefits for their represented workers and have refused to come to the table with a reasonable offer that maintains workers integrity.

Consequently the UFCW, North Shore Federation of Labor and their affiliated unions and locals are asking all members of the building trades to boycott Rite Aid.  The other represented pharmacies, CVS and Giant Eagle, each offer incentives to those members looking to transfer their prescriptions.  The UFCW is a great union that truly puts its members first.  We need to support our union brothers and sisters with the combined effort of Cleveland area labor voting with their pocketbooks.

Meeting notice

The November 18, December 9 and January 13 meetings are mandatory special meetings for the nomination, election and installation of officers.  A $20 fine will be issued for non-attendance.  Requests for exemptions from attendance must be presented to the Local 17, Executive Board or Business Representative prior to the meeting either in writing, in person or by phone.

I am very pleased to announce that the new issue of Lift Magazine, a publication of NEIEP, should be in the mail as we speak.  The theme of the issue is New Technology.  There are articles on ThyssenKrupp’s Twin system, PMS motors and regenerative drives, MRL systems and the new performance-based elevator code.  It is another tool in NEIEP’s box of continuing education for the new and experienced member.  There are also a number of classes available online.  Please take the time to check out the site at neiep.org to enhance your knowledge in the trade.

At the October meeting, Business Agent Tim Moennich reported on three deaths in the International.  The details were sketchy, but this needs to be a reminder to everyone to work safe, work smart and be very aware of what is going on around you.  Another important aspect is to not cut corners on safety or Article IV team work.  If you need help on a job, call for it.  If you can’t get it, lock it out and tell them to send a team.  Safety is no accident.

Callback from Hell

A member recently took a callback at a Parma apartment complex.  When checking out the pit, the car did not stop when he popped the bottom door lock.  When he examined the lock he found the wires jumped together on the same stud.  After correcting that issue, he decided to check the rest of the door locks.  When running the car down from the top landing, he found the same situation with the top lock.  He also discovered furniture on the car top.  When he informed the building management and the Parma Police, they arrested one the residents on a number of charges. Again, safety is no accident.

Cleveland Brown’s All-Pro lineman Joe Thomas donated ten tickets along with vouchers for food, parking and sweatshirts to be given to out of work members and their families.  The tickets are for the November 13th game against the St. Louis Rams.  Local 17, as of this writing, has five tickets left.  If you or someone you know can use the tickets, then give call Business Agent Tim Moennich a call at 216-431-8088.

Schindler recently paid $2000 to the Contingency Fund for Article IV flooring work given to other contractors at the UH Cancer Center.  This was in addition to the amount paid previously for another trade blocking cable holes on the same job.  Keep vigilant.  Your out of work brothers are counting on you.

“I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”

Voltaire

Since the election is only a few days away, I do not need to remind everyone reading this that a NO vote on Issue 2 is vital to supporting our brothers and sisters in the public-sector unions.  This is the home stretch on what has been a tsunami of support for the repeal of this union busting, ill-conceived notion that in order to balance local budgets, it is necessary to legislate what the government cannot negotiate.

I was talking with a friend who knows a member of a local school board.  The board member was telling him that if Issue 2 passes, then the system will be able to keep off the state watch list.  My friend’s response was that at contract time the board needs to hire better negotiators.  Most contracts have a reopen clause which allows either side to amend an agreement before the end of the contract.  The IUEC used this with NEBA to create the Assistant Mechanic slot which has put several thousand brothers and sisters back to work since its acceptance in August 2010.

There is also binding arbitration with public-sector contracts that is designed to avoid strikes and impasses.  According to the October 16 issue of the Plain Dealer the last public-sector strike was in July 2009 and there have been 16 total strikes in the last five years.  There were 18 cases of binding arbitration in 2010 according to the Ohio State Employment Relations Board (SERB).

SERB is the agency charged with collecting, tracking and analyzing the public-sector contracts for the state of Ohio in much the same way that the GAO does for the federal government.  The agency currently has 3,285 contracts on file.

In that same edition, the PD Editorial Board endorsed the passage of Issue 2.  An unemotional reading of the piece indicates that there was much debate among the members before arriving at the decision to endorse its passage.  An analysis of their logic, particularly in their naïve notion that the GOP led government would reexamine the more onerous aspects of the law, shows a fundamental misunderstanding of the first Law of Politics “He who has the Gold makes the rules.”  Most, if not all, office holders are beholden to this law through those that fund their campaigns.

North Shore AFL-CIO Executive Director Harriet Applegate wrote in her October 22nd rebuttal that “telling Ohioans that public employees are the problem and consequently have to pay for a crisis that was not of their making is deceitful and wrong” hit the nail square on the head.  The flood of letters decrying the papers endorsement and the number of subscription cancellations because of it is further proof of the acrimony following this issue.

Does their need to be reform?  What form should it take?  Who needs to sacrifice and how?  These are all valid questions that need answers as the state moves forward after the defeat of Issue 2.

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