48 The ELEVATOR CONSTRUCTOR Local Roundup Swearing in of newly elected Local 41 brothers Scott Sullivan, Dave Lane, and Vyto Morkunas LOCAL 41 • Springfield, Massachusetts Greetings from frosty New England. Hopefully when this reaches you spring will be just around the corner. March can be quite different depending on where in the Local 41 territory you reside. In most of the southern reaches spring will be within sight, while those in the hills and northern territories will most likely still be deep in winter’s icy grip, not to mention those of us in areas with dirt roads. Mud season is its own thing. If you know, you know. Work is steady in our area with a good number of projects underway or about to start. I’d like to take a minute to talk about communication. One of the most powerful tools we have is our ability to communicate. Whether it’s an office looking to exploit manpower, an equipment type you’ve never seen, or even a vehicle broken down on the side of the road, we are never alone. Communication is a powerful asset. Unfortunately, a lack of the same can be a liability. Even when we don’t get along, being able to share knowledge and verify third-party information is critical. We don’t have to like our brothers and sisters, but we do need to stand side by side. That requires us to be able to set aside differences and work together, lest those differences divide and work against us. Respectfully submitted, Jason Soukup Soukup.jason@yahoo.com LOCAL 41 LOCAL 44 • Toledo, Ohio Greetings from the Glass City. Recently six brothers from Local 44 attended Wind Turbine Technician training at Kalamazoo Valley Community College in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Our brothers earned training and certifications necessary to perform work on wind turbines. Perhaps more importantly, the education and skills they acquired have wide-ranging benefits that also extend to their current day-to-day activities on the job. High-angle rescue training, ladder rescue training and the work they completed to earn their CPR certifications are excellent examples of tools they were able to add to their proverbial toolboxes. It is this commitment to expanding our capabilities that reinforces the proven fact that our people are the best educated, and most highly skilled and well-rounded members of any trade or profession. The drive toward pursuing wind turbine-related educational and technical opportunities began last August when Vance Ayres, the IUEC’s director of wind turbine affairs, came to Toledo to speak to our people about ever-expanding opportunities related to wind turbines. He spoke of the 69,000 wind turbines that had been erected at that time and the potential to grow that number to 1.6 million wind turbines nationwide by the year 2050. That is a pace of more than 57,000 annually. In addition, many of the skill sets required for other aspects of maintenance on these units is perfectly aligned with proficiencies our mechanics already demonstrate. Marcus Brothers practicing his skills
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