All SMART members are invited to participate in annual Labor Day parades.
On Monday, Sept. 2, in Galesburg, Ill., Transportation Division Alternate National Legislative Director-elect Jared Cassity is scheduled to be in attendance to march alongside members of TD Local 195 and all other members who attend the 127th edition of the parade, a tradition that recognizes the sacrifice and contribution that workers have made in building our nation.
“Galesburg holds the title for the second-oldest consecutive Labor Day parade in America,” said Local Chairperson Bryan Roberts (LCA 001E) of TD Local 195. “We will have a photo with everyone before the parade begins and a float available to ride in the parade.”
Roberts said participants should meet between 8 and 9 a.m. at the TD Local 195 union hall in the basement of the Bondi Building, 311 E. Main St., lower level. There is an access door off Kellogg Street as well that leads downstairs to the union hall in addition to the building’s main entrance.
Roberts said there will be a picnic with food and drink provided immediately following the parade at Lake Story, Pavilion 3, 1572 Machens Drive in Galesburg. The pavilion is immediately to the left when turning off Lake Story Road toward the Main Pavilion across from the softball fields, Roberts said. Alcohol is prohibited on site.
All members in Galesburg and the surrounding area are invited to participate.
“We hope to see everyone there,” Roberts said.
In Nebraska, food and fun are on the schedule at the membership feed 5 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 1, the night before the big parade in Omaha.
Parade T-shirts will also be distributed at the Sheet Metal Workers Hall, 3333 S. 24th St., in Omaha.
Line-up for the parade takes place at 9 a.m. the following day at the northeast corner of 17th and Mike Fahey streets. Attend the feed or contact State Legislative Director Bob Borgeson for more details on participating at smartdirector@cox.net.
And members, if you attend this or any other Labor Day event, please send in your photos to news_td@smart-union.org for consideration in the next edition of the TD News!
Tag: Ill.
GLENVIEW, Ill. — Two bodies have been found under a collapsed railroad bridge here following the July 4 derailment of a 138-car Union Pacific coal train. The dead were in a a vehicle buried under the bridge wreckage. Authorities said more bodies of motorists could be found.
Glenview is a suburb of Chicago.
Union Pacific said extreme heat may have caused the rails to expand, leading to the derailment. Thirty-one of the loaded coal cars were derailed.
The Federal Railroad Administration is investigating. The train was enroute from the Powder River Basin in Wyoming to an electric utility in Milwaukee.
The Chicago Tribune quoted a UP spokesperson that the 86-foot-long bridge was not designed to carry the cumulative load of the 31 derailed coal cars that piled onto the bridge at once.
The newspaper also quoted the UP spokesperson that railroad inspectors and monitoring equipment were on the tracks prior to the accident checking for track-gauge abnormalities, which is standard procedure twice a day during extreme heat or cold. A “slow order” was in effect for the train, and UP said a locomotive event recorder indicated the train was obeying the “slow order” prior to the derailment.