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Wisconsin LECET
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Wisconsin LECET
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| Joint Training
Conference Held in Wisconsin The 3rd Annual Minnesota- North Dakota-Wisconsin Joint Training Conference was held in Wisconsin Dells in July. More than 70 local union and district council leaders, labor-management fund staff and national trainers participated in two days of seminars on labor-management cooperation, health and safety issues and local union administration. Wisconsin LECET put on a seminar on our activities here in the state. Minnesota LECET Fund Director Jessica Looman and National LECET Director Christopher Engquist also participated in the LECET seminar. |
Jordan Richardson (left), President/Business Manager of the Minnesota Laborers District Council and Mike Ryan (center), President/Business Manager of the Wisconsin Laborers District Council and Chairman, Wisconsin LECET Board of Trustees talk with Kitty Conlan (right) from the Laborers Health & Safety Fund of North America before her presentation at the 3rd Annual Minnesota-North Dakota-Wisconsin Joint Training Conference in Wisconsin Dells. In addition to the session on LECETand labor-management activities, other seminars covered drug and alcohol abuse, drug testing, stress and time management and financial management for local unions. A motivational speaker wrapped up the conference. The Wisconsin Laborers Skill Improvement Fund and Wisconsin LECET set up our trade show booth display during the two day meeting and received numerous positive comments. Since the conference, the national Laborers-AGC Training Fund and Minnesota LECET have requested information on our trade show display. Both funds are considering purchase of their own booth. The 4th Annual Training Conference will be held next summer in Minnesota. |
 Highway Safety Efforts Important Wisconsin LECET published a Letter to the Editor over the 4th of July weekend urging drivers to obey speed limits in construction zones. Many local laborers unions around the state shared the letter with their local newspapers. The letter urged drivers to obey the laws to save lives . . . and money . . . because traffic fines double in work zones. Double fines in work zones was an issue that Wisconsin LECET was involved in a number of years ago. Letters to the Editor and double fines are a start, but we still must make sure drivers are more aware of our members who work on the highways. The following poem was recently published in the North Central Illinois LECET newsletter in honor of Jerry Peach, a laborer who lost his life while flagging in a construction zone in 1996. It was written by Laurie Cooper, a member of Laborers Local 852 in Illinois.
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Message From The Director by Gerald J. Diemer |
| You will recall from a previous Wisconsin
LECET News, that we participated in the
Governor's Conference on Economic Development this spring
with the Wisconsin Laborers Skill Improvement Fund. The
training aspect of our materials was very interesting to
conference participants. Training and re-training are
very big issues as Wisconsin attempts to perpetuate the
job growth and economic development we currently enjoy .
. . and the unionized sector wrote the book on training .
. . and health . . . and safety. Because of our good experience at the Governor's Conference, the Wisconsin LECET Board of Trustees decided to join the Wisconsin Economic Development Association (WEDA). Organized labor and our signatories have a vested interest in economic development in Wisconsin and we felt we could bring a little different perspective to the discussions. Since we have been members of WEDA, we have found that Wisconsin LECET shares common ground with WEDA on a number of issues. The biggest and most apparent issue we agree on is transportation funding. Transportation infrastructure is one of the key building blocks of economic development. Wisconsin LECET was already a respected voice in the transportation budget debate when WEDA asked its membership to get involved. Mike Ryan, Chairman of the Wisconsin LECET Board of Trustees, also serves on the Board of Directors of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin. It now looks like an increase in transportation funding in Wisconsin will be a part of any version of the state budget. Other issues that Wisconsin LECET will be able to get involved in through our membership in WEDA include future training needs, promoting brownfields development and the importance of creating good paying jobs through our economic development efforts. Throughout our involvement in these issues, we will constantly bring the views of unionized construction to the table. After all, we wrote the book on training, health and safety. |
 "The Flagman" |
| "The Flagman" I know who you are --- how it fills you with dread When you see those flagmen standing ahead for it was a flagman that stood in your way And slowed you down On your busy day And you grumbled and cussed because you don't have time To stop--or slow down-- or to wait in line But I am that flagman And I've seen your face When I've slowed you down from your busy pace And I get so angry and I don't understand Why you don't appreciate who I really am |
For I am the one who cares for my crew I risk my life every day for them and you, too Heavy Equipment and oncoming cars And I stand between them to keep them apart I can't turn my back I can't look away For that second I do it might be my last day With no kind of regard from those who pass through For all that I risk each day, just for you And my life is worth much more than I am paid, But if you'd just slow down it might be YOUR life that's saved. |
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 Diane Newby (Left) and Jessica Zajicek |
 Brian Hedrington |
| WI Alliance for Fair
Contracting Adds Staff The Wisconsin Alliance for Fair Contracting (WAFC) has hired two field investigators and an administrative assistant this summer. Jessica Zajicek joins Wisconsin LECET as an administrative assistant. She previously worked for the Douglas Stewart Company. Jessica works closely with the WAFC Field Supervisors on correspondence, coordination of investigations and record keeping. Her computer skills have helped WAFC and Wisconsin LECET vastly improve our record keeping and organization. Brian Hedrington joins WAFC after serving as police chief in Cadott, Wisconsin. Brian brings a decade of police experience to WAFC, including undercover drug enforcement. He currently serves as Field Supervisor in northwestern Wisconsin. Diane Newby is the most recent addition to the WAFC field staff. Diane owned a successful private investigation agency in Madison handling cases throughout southcentral Wisconsin. She is the Field Supervisor for WAFC in southern and western Wisconsin. Jessica, Brian and Diane join Joel Bechitsao, Field Supervisor in southeastern Wisconsin and Bernie Samz, Field Supervisor in northeastern Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Alliance for Fair Contracting monitors public sector construction projects in the state for compliance with Wisconsin's prevailing wage laws. WAFC has been successful over the years in recovering proper wages for workers, helping contractors and local governments comply with the law and making the competitive bidding process in Wisconsin fair. If you would like WAFC to monitor a project where you think wage and hour laws are not being followed, please call us in confidence at (608) 274-1915 in Madison or (800) 780-1778 statewide. Your assistance can help government get the most bang for their construction dollar and help workers get the wages they are entitled to under the law. |
| Chris Engquist to Lead
National LECET Edward R. "Rocky" Wilkinson has announced his resignation as Executive Director of National LECET. Effective October 1, 1997, Mr. Wilkinson will head up the Taft-Hartley division of INVESCO, Inc., an Atlanta-based capital management investment firm. Christopher Engquist, former Director of National LECET, has assumed the Executive Director duties. Chris came to National LECET six years ago after spending thirteen years in the national office of the Associated General Contractors of America. At AGC, Chris served as Director of the Division of Collective Bargaining, Director of the Division of Manpower and Training and as Assistant Director of the Division of Construction Education. Chris has visited Wisconsin twice this summer to participate in training conferences in Wisconsin Dells in July and Milwaukee in August. Wisconsin LECET wishes Rocky the best in his new position, and we look forward to working with Chris and National LECET. |
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Michael R. Ryan (left), Chair of Wisconsin LECET and U.S. Rep. Jay Johnson (D-WI) talked clean air and increased funding for transportation recently in Madison. |
| National Transportation
Funding Will Increase The reauthorization of the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) continues to be discussed in Washington, DC. Federal spending for highways in the recently passed budget resolution increased by more than 16% to a record level of $23.6 billion. The goal of National LECET and the Transportation Construction Coalition (TCC) is to increase that amount significantly when ISTEA is reauthorized later in the fall. Currently, the debate in the nation's capitol seems to favor a greater investment in transportation infrastructure. Michael Ryan, Chairman of the Wisconsin LECET Trustees recently participated in meetings and briefings in Washington to lobby for increased funding for ISTEA. In another area that Wisconsin LECET has monitored, the recent tax bill agreed to by the President and Congress would transfer the entire 4.3 cents per gallon gas tax enacted in 1993 from the General Fund into the Highway Trust Fund. This transfer is a major victory for the TCC and highway users. The transfer will set up a situation where the unspent balances in the highway trust funds will continue to grow unless Congress authorizes increased spending on transportation. As the balance in the trust funds grows, there will be pressure from the public to either increase transportation spending or take the highway trust funds off budget. Either of those options would be a victory for highway users. Wisconsin LECET will continue to monitor the ISTEA reauthorization deliberations. |
New EPA Clean Air Standards Threaten Jobs in WI New clean air standards published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) earlier this summer could cost Wisconsin more than 6200 jobs and $200,000,000 in highway funding at a minimum once they are in place.
The costs of the new EPA standards will be severe. By transforming over 400 counties around the country into "non-attainment areas", the standards will jeopardize hundreds of construction projects and thousands of jobs. The American Road and Transportation Builders Association estimates that these regulations will place 160,000 highway construction jobs in jeopardy, could lower the pay or threaten the jobs of another 350,000 heavy (other than highway) construction workers and threaten the jobs, cause temporary unemployment or income loss for another 400,000 workers in industries or professions that are related to construction.
Despite the fact that it will take a number of years for these EPA standards to filter down to us through state regulatory processes, this threat to our workers is unacceptable AND unnecessary.
The current Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990, has been enormously successful. According to the EPA's own figures, emissions of the six principal air pollutants that it monitors decreased by 29% and pollution from automobile tailpipes dropped 96% from1970 to1995. These figures become even more impressive when you consider that during this same period, population grew 28%, production of goods and services doubled and 60% more drivers drove 80% more vehicles.
The EPA's new ozone and particulate matter standards will cost projects and jobs while doing little to improve the already impressive record of the Clean Air Act. That fact is why the EPA's own Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee and President Clinton's Council on Economic Advisors cannot support the new regulations.
Michael Ryan, Chairman of the Wisconsin LECET Trustees, has written the Wisconsin Congressional Delegation opposing these regulations.
You should call or write your Congressman and Senators also.
