Children Beam with Smiles, Thanks to Seattle Ironworkers
Thanksgiving is a good time to give thanks for union members who engage in good works throughout the year. In Seattle, Ironworkers Local 86 members have been putting smiles on the faces of some very sick children since they began painting young patients’ names and messages on the beams of a new wing at Seattle Children’s Hospital.
The new building project faces a hospital wing where many young boys and girls are being treated for cancer and other serious illnesses. In this video, Local 86 member John Ford says:
Every day we get up on that iron and we see them wave at us. They’re so excited. Just to bring a smile to their faces, it’s rewarding. It almost brings a tear to your eye.
On one beam, Ironworkers painted “HI ZAC” for Zac Graling, a 16-year-old being treated for leukemia. He told the Seattle Times:
It’s fun to think they put up your name on a building and it will be there forever.
Check Out Video Clip of Ironworkers, IUPAT Rallying for Bridges, Jobs
The Ironworkers today send us this video of their action at the South Capitol Street Bridge in Washington D. C., with the Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) during last week’s AFL-CIO’s Infrastructure Investment Day of Action. The actions highlighted dozens of bridges across the nation in desperate need of repair and called on Congress to put millions of Americans back to work rebuilding the nation’s crumbling bridges and roads.
Ironworkers Make Tree of Lights Shine
Marie Smith, AFL-CIO Community Services liaison in Omaha, Neb., sends us this report.
When the switch was thrown earlier this month on a 75-foot tall, steel-framed “Tree of Lights” in downtown Omaha, volunteers of Ironworkers Local 21 had their first chance to see their handiwork sparkle.
They had assembled the tree—which kicks off the Salvation Army’s Tree of Lights campaign—and attached some 8,000 LED lights and another 650 LED starbursts to the steel frame. It was an easier task this year as compared with 2008, when the volunteers worked through -20 degrees F to put the 6,000 pound tree together.
This is the 12th year the Ironworkers have donated their labor to the tree, along with contributing more than $26,000 in equipment. In 2009, Local 21 received the Salvation Army’s Territorial Volunteer of the Year” award for their “extraordinary commitment and unmatched expertise.”
The Tree of Lights campaign runs through Dec. 24, and many union brothers and sisters from the Omaha area will be out ringing the bells at the iconic red kettles.
Massachusetts Bridge: Not a Pretty Picture
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Jay Hurley, president of the New England Ironworkers District Council, says he wanted to prove a point to those who claim that the recent focus on the deteriorating conditions of the nation’s bridges and infrastructure is overblown.
So he picked a nearby bridge over Rt. 128 in Gloucester that carries more than 57,000 vehicles a day 100 feet over the Annisquam River. Hurley had District Council safety inspectors document the condition of the A. Piatt Andrew Bridge.
As you can see by the accompanying photo, it’s not a pretty picture.
The photos elicited some strong comments, including this one.
That bridge is a disaster waiting to happen…what are they waiting for—the bridge to collapse and kill some motorists? By then it will be too late.
School Supply Drive by Saginaw Labor Council to Kick Off United Way Campaign
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AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer sends us this report.
More than 90 children received school supply bags through donations of union members in 10 locals from Saginaw County, Mich. AFL-CIO/Michigan Community Services liaison Steven Lamb reports that earlier this month, the unions gave the school supply bags to the YMCA, First Ward Community Center, Salvation Army and the Neighborhood House to distribute to area school children.
Taking part in the donation drive: UAW locals 668, 699, 467, 6000 and 455; Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 557, Machinists (IAM) Local 557, Ironworkers Local 25, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 951 and Operating Engineers (IUOE) Local 324. PMN Saginaw Metal Castings also contributed supplies.
New Jersey State AFL-CIO: 50 Years of Making a Difference
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In this op-ed, Charles Wowkanech and Laurel Brennan, president and secretary-treasurer, respectively, of the New Jersey State AFL-CIO describe the state federation’s 50 years of making a difference.
Fifty years ago today, George Meany, president of the AFL-CIO, symbolically “tied the knot” linking the hands of AFL leader Vincent Murphy and CIO chief Joel Jacobson.
More than 3,000 delegates gathered in Newark to cheer the “shotgun wedding” that united the New Jersey labor movement and ended a 25-year rivalry during which the two federations raced against each other to organize hundreds of thousands of workers across the state.
N.H. Speaker Fails Again to Override ‘Right to Work’ Veto
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AFL-CIO communications staffer Nora Frederickson sends us this report from New Hampshire.
Following weeks of speculation, William O’Brien, the speaker of the New Hampshire state House, failed to call a vote to override Democratic Gov. John Lynch’s veto of a so-called right to work legislation in a special session today after O’Brien realized he may not have the votes needed to override the veto. After Lynch vetoed H.B. 474 in May, O’Brien has scrambled to catch opponents of the “right to work” for less law off guard, holding unscheduled votes, changing the agendas on session days and bombarding session days with roll-call votes in order to ensure that he can push through an override of the veto.
Toilet Paper Drive Collects 115,000+ Rolls for Sacramento Area Nonprofits
AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer describes union volunteer efforts to stretch the limited dollars of Sacramento area nonprofit organizations.
Every year local nonprofit agencies spend thousands of dollars on toilet paper for families in need. That’s money they could be spending on much-needed services that benefit the community. Since 2009, the Sacramento Central Labor Council and the local United Way have partnered to create Toilet Paper Drives to help local nonprofit partners offset costs and redirect the money saved into vital programs.
This year the partners collected 77,227 rolls of toilet paper (compared with 50,000 rolls last year) that were matched by a local company, bringing the total to an impressive 115,000 rolls.
American Rights at Work Honors Cromwell, United Streetcar and Founders
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The voice of America’s workers and middle class rang out loud and clear at the 7th Annual American Rights at Work (ARAW) Awards Celebration earlier this week in Washington, D.C.
Kimberly Freeman Brown, American Rights at Work executive director, set the theme of the evening when she said to the 400 participants, ”Our aim is to show the Wisconsin teacher and the Washington machinist that they are not alone.”
Bo McCurry, president of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 2143 in Sparta, Tenn., described life on the frontlines in the battle to save America’s middle class. His plant has been repeatedly honored as productive and effective. Yet the employer, Dutch multinational Philips Lighting, is closing the plant and shipping those jobs to Mexico. McCurry said:
We’ve got to think about our trade laws and what we’re doing to protect our interests here. If we’re going to have a future at all, we’ve got to tell our children that making things in this country is important. We need manufacturing jobs. We’ve earned our place in the global competition and we’re willing to keep improving and keep competing, but when we do that and then have it yanked from us, well that’s just a kick in the head.
You can read McCurry’s entire speech here.
In contrast to Philips, Oregon’s United Streetcar, one of the recipients of the evening’s Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Awards, was honored as an example for other businesses to emulate.
Midwest Floods Still Rising, Union Members Still There to Help
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AFL-CIO Community Services Director Will Fischer reminds us that residents in the Midwest are still struggling with flood waters—and union members are there to assist them.
As the waters of the Missouri River continue to rise, union members are mobilizing to help and preserve labor landmarks along the river’s bank.
Union members have rushed in to help evacuate those in need from the rising waters, including three of our brothers and sisters from Communications Workers of America (CWA) Local 7400 who live in Missouri Valley, Iowa. Following an e-mail appeal from Omaha Federation of Labor Community Service liaison Marie Smith, union members showed up en masse with dollies, trucks and moving equipment to help move these families to a safer area.
And as always, the labor movement is keeping a watchful eye throughout the community on the immediate and long-term needs in case the waters spill farther into the community.
