Category: News
Raising standards for indoor air quality — the SMART way
If there is one thing the COVID-19 pandemic has done, it has sharply highlighted decades of neglect of indoor air quality (IAQ) in schools. Despite its importance, poor ventilation in schools is a widespread, persistent problem. Students, parents, and teachers should enter a [...]
Union Halls Help Vaccine Effort
SMART SM Locals in New York City, St. Louis, Chicago and Minneapolis mobilized over the winter and spring to provide added capacity for COVID-19 vaccine distribution efforts, with union facilities functioning as injection sites for members, veterans and, in some cases, the ge [...]
How to Claim Lagging Work
Below is a Summary of Typical Scope of Work on Combined Cycle Power Plants Gas Burners If piping is being stripped for repair/ replacement or valve repair/replacement, there may be SMART scope for the lagging. Much of your small bore pipe, 8” outside diameter (O.D.) of insula [...]
Shell mega-project underscores growing opportunities for lagging work and training
The Shell Pennsylvania Petrochemicals Complex is an under-construction ethylene cracker plant in Monaca, Pa., 30 miles northwest of Pittsburgh. First proposed in 2012 during the Obama administration, the facility is owned and operated by Shell Oil Co., the North American arm [...]
Local 807 member killed in transport accident
Brother Karl Middlemas, 62, of Local 807 (Tucson, Ariz.) – a member of our union for more than 13 years – died when the crew van he was being transported in collided with a tractor-trailer late on July 6. Brother Middlemas hired on in 2007 and most recently served [...]
SMART Local 88 Organizer Featured in AFL-CIO Newsletter
SMART Local 88 Organizer Al Lopez was featured earlier this month in the weekly newsletter of the Western Region of the AFL-CIO. Below is the full text of the newsletter’s profile. Congrats Brother Lopez! Al Lopez is a member and organizer for International Association [...]
Biden-Harris administration offers two paths to the Rule of 2
The paths to the Rule of 2 are open. Path 1: The INVEST ACT (H.R. 3684, the House Infrastructure Bill) and Path 2: a regulatory priority of the Department of Transportation (DOT) and the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) to revisit freight crew size. U.S House Transportat [...]
RRB: Unemployment and sickness benefits for railroad employees
The Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) administers the Railroad Unemployment Insurance Act (RUIA), which provides two kinds of benefits for qualified railroaders: unemployment benefits for those who become unemployed but are ready, willing and able to work; and sickness benefits [...]