Year: 2014

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George Donovan went to school to be an aircraft mechanic, but in the last nearly two decades he’s spent as a field representative for the International Training Institute (ITI), he’s driven 600,000 miles, or 35,000 miles per year. He doesn’t like to fly.

Donovan, who works out of Centralia, Missouri, north of Columbus, covers schools in Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, Kansas, Iowa and Arkansas for the ITI, the education arm of the unionized sheet metal and air conditioning industry. With 153 schools across the country, Donovan’s windshield time is spent supporting training directors at the 23 schools in his region and keeping staff members at those schools up on TotalTrack, the student-tracking database system.

“I go from area to area, and the only thing that changes is the local number,” Donovan said. “The sheet metal workers from all over the country are exceptional people.”

His time in the industry began in 1978 as a 22-year-old sheet metal apprentice when he came to the conclusion he wasn’t going to make any money as an airplane mechanic. He graduated in 1982 and worked as a journeyman and then foreman while also teaching part time at his alma mater. In 1994, he became the school’s apprentice director and took on the role as regional representative in 1997.

As a certified welding instructor (CWI), Donovan also serves as an assessor who completes audits of the industry’s welding facilities.

“The schooling I had as an airplane mechanic wasn’t wasted,” he said. “It was applicable to two different skills for different things. Airplanes had sheet metal. They had woodworking. They had all those systems in airplanes. They gave you a basic knowledge that was useful in other areas than just being an aircraft mechanic.”

Being a teacher involved with training and curriculum was never a job Donovan set out to fill when he entered the industry. But it’s one of the most rewarding, he said. The only thing he misses – creating and building things.

“The rewarding thing is being able to work with the local training schools and being able to assist them,” he added. “Whenever I was working with my tools in my local area, I didn’t have exposure to what else was going on in other places. After you meet all the talented people in our industry you realize. It’s a humbling experience.”

More than 15,000 apprentices are registered at the 153 training facilities in the United States and Canada. The ITI is jointly sponsored by SMART, the International Association of Sheet Metal Air, Rail and Transportation Workers (formerly the Sheet Metal Workers’ International Association) and the Sheet Metal and Air Conditioning Contractors’ National Association (SMACNA).

ITI supports apprenticeship and advanced career training for union workers in the sheet metal industry throughout the United States and Canada. Located in Fairfax, Va., ITI produces a standardized sheet metal curriculum supported by a wide variety of training materials free of charge to sheet metal apprentices and journeymen.

SMART Sheet Metal Workers Local 293 dropped off 18 boxes of school supplies at the Kapaa Elementary School in Kauai on Monday. The school was selected based on it servicing the greatest percentage of Kauai’s population, and the percentage of children on the free and reduced lunch program.
“We collected materials to take care of 10 schools, and this year, five schools on Oahu were serviced and five schools on the outer islands received supplies,” Rick Paulino, Local 296 President.

WASHINGTON (AP) — In an election-year rebuttal to Republicans, President Barack Obama will sign an executive order Thursday requiring federal contractors to give their workers more rights in labor disputes. The move comes one day after House GOP lawmakers voted to sue Obama for allegedly misusing presidential powers.

Under the order, companies seeking large federal contracts will be barred from making workers sign agreements saying that an arbitrator, rather than a judge, gets to hear sexual assault or civil rights grievances and make binding decisions. The order also requires that workers be given information in each pay period to help them determine whether their paychecks are accurate, White House officials said.

Read the complete story at the Associated Press.

Tags labor disputes

Edythe Mae Walter, former International president of the Auxiliary of the United Transportation Union, passed away peacefully on July 30, 2014. She was 78.
She is survived by her husband, Bob Walter, with whom she celebrated 60 years of marriage on June 22. They also shared their birth date of April, 28, 1936. She is also survived by children, Cindy (Denny) Robish, Tom (Tammie) Walter and Amy (Andy) Fox, and grandchildren Alesha Robish, Erica and Nathan Walter, and Logan, A.J. and Parker Fox.
Family and friends will be received Friday, Aug. 1, 2014, from 6-8 p.m. and Saturday, Aug. 2, 2014, from 12-2 p.m. at the Marsh Funeral Home, 201 W. Main St. in Woodville, Ohio. Funeral services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Saturday. Interment will be at Westwood Cemetery in Woodville, Ohio. Considerations for memorial contributions are to Ohio State Grange-Youth Division, 16303 Township Rd. 608, Fredericktown, Ohio 43019 or Auxiliary of UTU Scholarship Fund, 2153 N. Hwy 99, Emporia, KS 66801-8101. Those wishing to express a word of encouragement, share a memory or photo, may do so at marshfuneralhomes.com.

Tags Auxiliary of the UTU, Edythe Walter

Life events continually remind us of how much we depend on each other. The Union Member Assistance Coordinators’ program serves the membership in many ways. Most importantly, we help our brothers and sisters cope with tragedies in their lives. We believe that a burden shared is a burden lessened. By sticking together and providing positive emotional support based on our experiences, we help each other get through difficult times in our lives and begin the healing process. That’s our mission!
Don’t walk away from a brother or sister who is hurting. Learn to reach out and become part of the solution. Remember that, “People don’t care what you know, until they know that you care.”
It is our union’s trademark. We can’t ignore our problems. Stop, listen and support those in need, as caring union members. Keep in mind always this adage, “As long as the ties that bind us together are stronger than those that will tear us apart, all will be well.”

SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) Facts:
By 2020, mental and substance use disorders will surpass all physical diseases as a major cause of disability worldwide.
Half of all lifetime cases of mental and substance use disorders begin by age 14 and three-fourths by age 24
More than 34,000 Americans die every year as a result of suicide, approximately one every 15 minutes.
Each year, approximately 5,000 youth under the age of 21 die as a result of underage drinking. The annual total estimated societal cost of substance abuse in the Unites States is $510.8 billion. The total economic costs of mental, emotional, and behavioral disorders among youth in the United States is approximately $247billion.
Among persons aged 12 and older who used prescription pain relievers non-medically in the past 12 months, 55.9 percent got them from a friend or relative for free.
Member assistance contact: umac@smart-union.org

SMART Transportation Division Georgia State Legislative Director Matt Campbell testified before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency July 29 in Atlanta, addressing the concerns of the union and its members regarding the agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan.

In its proposed rule, the EPA is proposing state-specific rate-based goals for carbon dioxide emissions from the power sector, as well as guidelines for states to follow in developing plans to achieve the state-specific goals.

The rule seeks to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired power plants in the United States.

The EPA plan would reduce carbon emissions from the power sector by 30 percent nationwide and reduce particle pollution, nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide by more than 25 percent.

Campbell noted that the transportation of coal by U.S. railroads is vitally important to the welfare of the members he represents.

“We are concerned and we care about this issue because of the impact this plan will have on our jobs and our future. There are 25 freight railroads in Georgia that employ thousands of people. These are not temporary jobs – they are careers. These people’s – my co-workers, your neighbors – precious careers are in jeopardy because of the hit being taken by the coal industry,” Campbell said.

Campbell noted that nearly 40 percent of all freight railroad cars in the U.S. are coal cars, accounting for 25 percent of the freight rail industry’s revenue and 20 percent of all freight rail jobs.

“Hauling coal is a big part of what our members do and it accounts for about 20 percent of all freight railroad jobs in America,” said SMART Transportation Division President John Previsich. “Our state directors are playing a vital role in trying to make this proposed rule workable.”

Alternate National Legislative Director John Risch noted that Pennsylvania State Legislative Director Paul Pokrowka and Colorado State Legislative Director Carl Smith would be also be testifying at EPA hearings in their home states this week.

Added Risch: “This proposed rule, coupled with EPA’s recently enacted mercury rule, will cause one-third of our nations coal-fired power plants to shut down in the next six years.”

“We are working with our allies in Washington on ways to make carbon capture and storage economically viable so coal remains a part of America’s energy mix for the foreseeable future,” National Legislative Director James Stem said.

Campbell went on to provide SMART Transportation Division’s suggestions for amending the proposed Clean Power Plan, including providing states with credit for prior carbon dioxide reductions and delaying implementation of the plan by several years to allow states and affected sources adequate time to prepare and submit state plans.

“We believe that the rule is premature since we do not know the extent to which other nations, particularly large developing countries, will be willing to commit to a truly global program of greenhouse gas reductions,” Campbell said. “We, America, cannot ‘go it alone’ and expect that our actions will have any meaningful climate impact in a world economy that is using more coal and other fossil fuels every day. Developing nations already emit more carbon dioxide than advanced industrial nations, and the Department of Energy projects that their share of global emissions will grow steadily, and will continue to do so, regardless of what the United States decides to do.

“Before I surrender the microphone, I want to make something clear. I love our environment and I am thankful for the clean air we breathe. That being said, I value my career on the railroad that allows me to provide for my family.

“As a middle class worker, speaking on behalf of other middle class workers, I plead with the EPA to listen to our recommendations and work to find a sensible, common sense solution that works for everyone.”

SMART Transportation Division Georgia State Legislative Director Matt Campbell, right, testifies at a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency hearing July 29 in Atlanta regarding the agency’s proposed Clean Power Plan.

Tags carbon dioxide emissions, Clean Power Plan, coal, Environmental Protection Agency, EPA, Matt Campbell

Attendees to the Washington State Labor Council Convention in Wenatchee, Wash., July 22-24, unanimously endorsed a resolution supporting legislation for two-person rail crews on train operations throughout the state, SMART Transportation Division Washington Legislative Director Herb Krohn reports.
The council also passed a resolution calling for additional legislative efforts related to railroad workplaces and public safety.
Krohn said the SMART Transportation Division had its largest delegation from the organization in attendance at the convention in about 50 years.
“We were also instrumental in advancing a resolution in support of limiting project development studies to 18 months to advance the proposed export terminals in Washington State,” Krohn said.
The two-person crew resolution “steadfastly opposes any actions to permit one-person train crew operations on Class I railroads operating in our state and elsewhere.”
The WSLC resolution also “supports and fervently urges the Washington State Legislature to enact proposed legislation prohibiting one-person train crew operations (H.B. 2718/S.B. 6473), which are already operating in our state on short-line railroads to the detriment of public safety; supports and advocates that members of our congressional delegation cosponsor and work to pass H.R. 3040, which would require all trains operating in the United States to be staffed with a crew of no fewer than two persons; and hereby determines that the enactment of legislation to prohibit one-person train crews shall be a priority in its 2015 legislative agenda.”
The resolution on railroad workplace and public safety endorsed the following legislative efforts:

H.B. 1620 and S.B. 5720, bills seeking adoption of state regulatory authority of railroad crew transportation services and any subcontractor company utilized by the railroads to provide such services;
H.B. 1621 and S.B. 5721, seeking adoption of state regulatory authority, equivalent to the Federal Hours of Service Laws that now cover railroad operating craft personnel, for Class I railroad yardmasters working in the state of Washington;
H.B. 1845 and S.B. 5722, seeking adoption of a process to consolidate all of the state of Washington’s railroad public and workplace safety and regulatory functions possible under a single agency, the WUTC; and providing this agency with the maximum regulatory authority over railroads permissible under federal law, as well as providing adequate funding, which includes additional inspectors with federalized rail enforcement authority;

The resolution also recognizes that crude shipments by rail pose a real and potentially deadly threat to both rail workers and the public and strongly urges the Washington State Legislature to work in close cooperation with rail labor organizations to critically examine all aspects of crude-by-rail operations.
The WSLC urged the Washington State Legislature, as well as all Washington State agencies having such authority, to develop a coordinated, consolidated, expanded, and effective rail regulatory and enforcement program for the purpose of ensuring increased protection of both railroad workers and the public.
The council announced that the resolution of these critical railroad public and employee safety issues shall be a priority in the 2015 WSLC legislative agenda.
To read the two-person crew resolution, click here.
To read the railroad workplace and public safety resolution, click here.

Pictured, from left, are SMART-TD Washington State Legislative Board Secretary Jourdan Marshall (117), Local Legislative Rep. Shane Sadler (1238), International Longshore and Warehouse Union Lobbyist Gordon Baxter, Washington State Legislative Board Vice Chairperson Clyde Rosa (1637), Local Legislative Rep. Tracey Council (845), Local Legislative Rep. Darren Volland (426), Washington State Legislative Board Assistant Director Steve Mazulo (855), Washington State Labor Council Secretary-Treasurer Lynne Dodson, Washington State Labor Council President Jeff Johnson, Washington State Legislative Board Chairperson Gary Howell (977), Krohn (1348), member Dan Kalich (426), member Kevin Drury (117, seated), member Steve Dansereau (1505), member Taro Suyematsu (1348), Local Legislative Rep. Dwayne Hawkins (1713) and Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers and Trainmen Lobbyist Mike Elliott. (Not pictured was member Jared Dunagan of Local 845.)

Tags Herb Krohn, two-person train crews, Washington State Labor Council

Members of the SMART Transportation Division and all of labor are reminded that they have the opportunity to make it federal law to have two qualified persons working on all freight trains operating in the United States a reality.
Now is the time to contact your legislators in the House of Representatives and ask them to co-sponsor and support H.R. 3040.
Introduced in the House Aug. 2 by U.S. Reps. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) and Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), this legislation will require that “no freight train or light engine used in connection with the movement of freight may be operated unless it has a crew consisting of at least 2 individuals, one of whom is certified under regulations promulgated by the Federal Railroad Administration as a locomotive engineer … and the other of whom is certified under regulations promulgated by the Federal Railroad Administration as a conductor pursuant to section 20163.”
“This legislation is not only about the safety of the American public and the safety of railroading operating crews, it is an opportunity to prevent what in my opinion is an unsafe operating practice – having only one crew member aboard a train,” said SMART TD President John Previsich. “This measure will not only protect our communities, it will protect our jobs.”
The legislation reflects heightened concerns over crew size arising from the tragic July 6 derailment of a Montreal, Maine & Atlantic fuel train in Lac Mégantic, Quebec, which killed 47 and destroyed the center of the town. The MM&A train was crewed by a single person.
The Association of American Railroads (AAR) and the American Short Line and Regional Railroad Association (ASLRRA) last year sent memos to Capitol Hill opposing this important piece of legislation, stating in part: “H.R. 3040 mandates freight trains operate with a certified locomotive engineer and a certified conductor without taking into consideration the realities of current industry practices and the overall rail safety record in the United States.”
In a letter to all members of Congress, the SMART TD’s Legislative Office wrote: “The reality is that 99+ percent of America’s trains already operate with two federally-certified crew members. It was the July 6, 2013, accident at Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, where 47 people lost their lives and a town was destroyed, that gave rise to this legislation.
“That accident happened because a crew member, working alone, had his train roll away causing horrific death and devastation.
“There are many tasks that must be performed by the crew of a freight train that one person cannot accomplish alone.
“Under current Federal Railroad Administration regulations and railroad operating rules: a single person crew cannot make a Class I air brake test; one person cannot act as a first responder when a collision at a road crossing occurs; one person cannot inspect his or her train when it breaks in two or derails, including when there is the possible release of hazardous materials; and one person cannot inspect his or her train when cars in that train become defective.
“Another reality is that freight train crews work long hours, day and night, with few set shifts, and are on call 24/7. With as little as 1 hour and 15 minutes’ notice, we are required to report to work for a 12-hour shift, often operating trains laden with hazardous materials. Fatigue in the freight railroad industry is our number one safety problem, and having two crew members is the main way that we help mitigate fatigue. Having two crew members is also the best way to assure compliance with our complex operating rules. Rules such as properly securing your train so it doesn’t roll away and destroy a town.
“H.R. 3040 – the Safe Freight Act – is a bipartisan bill that will ensure that trains are operated safely everywhere in America. We respectfully ask that you support this important bill and consider becoming a co-sponsor.”
To send a message to your House representative to co-sponsor and support this legislation, click here.
By entering your ZIP code and street address, a webpage prepared by the SMART will identify your representative in both the House and. After entering your email address, the website will send a prepared message to your legislators that reads, in part: “Please support H.R . 3040, the Safe Freight Act, which will improve railway safety by eliminating the risky practice of single-person train crews.
“A two-person crew would likely have been able to divert the runaway train that derailed in Lac-Megantic, Quebec this summer. A derailment that killed nearly 50 people, destroyed more than 40 buildings and caused hundreds of millions of dollars in environmental damage.
“By supporting H.R. 3040, you are taking a necessary step to end the dangerous practice of single-person crews that put the safety of the public, the crew, and the well being of our economy at risk.”
Contact your legislators today.

On the last day of the SMART Transportation Division Convention, held in San Diego, Calif., General President Joseph Nigro addressed the delegates and discussed transparency, solidarity between construction and transportation workers, along with giving a look at the upcoming SMART Convention to be held in Las Vegas, NV the week of August 11 through the 15th.

The term “higher education” can take on many connotations. Where some believe it means attending a two- or four-year college or university, there is another side to higher education – apprenticeship in the skilled labor trades.

Apprentices at more than 153 unionized sheet metal training centers across the United States and Canada go to classes, attend labs, earn grades and receive on-the-job training in four- to five-year programs. Apprentices are paid while they work to become journeymen, and, usually, they graduate debt free. While they don’t march down the aisle in caps and gowns for graduation, they are rewarded with hourly wages above and beyond those many university graduates can hope to make until they have “paid their dues” – if they ever receive comparable earnings.

Curricula for the country’s sheet metal workers are developed by the International Training Institute (ITI), the education arm of the unionized sheet metal and air conditioning industry. The apprenticeship program isn’t for people who failed at college or wanted to choose another route to a stable income. The program is for serious individuals who want to pursue an education, skill level and career in a trade such as the unionized sheet metal industry.

Just as the world needs doctors, lawyers and tax accountants to survive, it also needs heating, ventilation and air conditioning designers and technicians; welders to build schools and plants; certified fire life safety professionals to ensure a building on fire doesn’t place lives in jeopardy; designers to create building systems to keep occupants safe, comfortable and breathing clean air; industrial workers who build plants for power and sustainable energy, installing conduits the size of football fields; and technicians to conduct energy audits to keep buildings operating efficiently.

These skills take education, dedication and talent. The labor trades aren’t reserved for the less-intelligent. They are necessary career paths important to the proper functioning of the country and are there for those who take interest in a different kind of work.

This spring, Mike Rowe, formerly of Discovery Channel’s “Dirty Jobs,” testified on Capitol Hill for more attention to be paid to the jobs that need to be done by the skilled labor force.

“The reality is: look at the opportunities that are out there, make a case for the trades, and stop with this idea that there’s only one way to get educated,” he said.

Once the education is earned, jobs are available as well. It varies by state, but jobs are available, and more are on the horizon and on major projects such as the new Minnesota Vikings or Atlanta Falcon stadiums, airport renovations and new construction of high rises and office buildings around the country.

First Lady Michelle Obama’s new initiative, Reach Higher, focuses on inspiring all American students to take charge of their future by pursing and completing their higher education – and that includes apprenticeship.

In April, Vice Pres. Joe Biden announced the launch of the Registered Apprenticeship College Consortium (RACC), which is intended to bridge the gap between colleges and registered apprenticeship programs, allowing graduates of these programs to earn college credit for their training.