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In another step forward for SMART and the unionized sheet metal industry, SM Local 66 (Seattle) and SMACNA-Western Washington announced a joint initiative – the first in the industry – to make lactation pods available to new mothers, starting in April 2023. This is an important step that will help mothers in the sheet metal trade return to work without compromising convenience, privacy and comfort.

“They’ll have a seat, sink, HVAC, electricity for the breast pump and phone chargers, plus a refrigerator to keep the breast milk cold during the remaining hours of the workday,” reads a SMACNA-Western Washington press release. “The lactation pods are designed for comfort and accessibility and will keep women from the embarrassment of getting walked in on. They will also make it easier to keep breast milk fresh, reduce the difficulty of locating and getting to a private space and provide storage for their pumping gear.”

Returning to work as a new mother has historically been a very different experience for tradeswomen compared with those working in an office, for example. Many SMART sisters in the Pacific Northwest have reported that they frequently had to pump in places where privacy and peace of mind were anything but guaranteed, including port-a-potties, cars and more.

The Local 66-SMACNA-Western Washington partnership will aim to rectify those concerns: Through an exclusive partnership with a custom fabricator, the SMACNA-Western Washington press release adds, “the clean, sanitary pods will be digitally secure via an app.”

Local 66 – both leadership and the local’s Women’s Committee – collaborated with SMACNA-Western Washington, the Northwest Labor Management Organizational Trust and the Western Washington Sheet Metal JATC to raise funds for this landmark project. In addition to providing vital services to new mothers, the lactation pods will help strengthen Local 66 and SMART as our union seeks to grow across North America.

“This type of initiative demonstrates our ongoing commitment to progress; to making sure all workers are welcome on the job,” said SMART General President Joseph Sellers. “This is a groundbreaking first step as we continue to organize workers across our two nations.”

A pair of tours has been finalized on July 1 and 2 for attendees of the 2018 SMART Transportation Division Regional Meeting in Seattle.
Day 1 (July 1): Puget Sound whale watching tour
Attendees will be picked up from the Westin Hotel downtown at 8:15 a.m. Sunday, July 1, and taken to Edmunds, where they will board a ship onto Puget Sound.
On the sound, there are three resident orca pods and there will a chance of seeing humpback whales, gray and minke whales, porpoises, seals and sea lions. The tour includes a boxed lunch and attendees will be back at the hotel by 3:30 p.m. Guests are advised to bring a light jacket in case it’s chilly on the sound.
Day 2 (July 2): Seattle city tour
Board a luxury motor coach to see the Emerald City’s highlights! Guests will enjoy an informative tour of the city from a Seattle perspective, hearing history and interesting stories about this unique metropolis. The tour begins at 9 a.m. in the downtown core, including the chance to explore Chihuly Gardens and Glass in Seattle Center, the Pike Place Market and the Olympic Sculpture Park before the tour ends at the Ballard Locks.
Guests will then have the opportunity to have lunch on their own and to do some shopping in the city’s Ballard neighborhood. Overlooking Salmon Bay in the city’s northwest, the neighborhood once was home to lumber and shingle mills but now has a thriving commercial district with locally owned restaurants and boutiques.
Tour costs are $35 per person for registered guests of the regional meeting and $75 per person for guests who are not registered for the regional meeting. Follow this link to register online or you can download a fillable PDF version of the regional meeting registration form.

SMART TD has opened paper and online registration for the 2018 regional meetings located in Seattle, July 2 – 4, and in Hollywood, Fla., Aug. 6 – 8.
A completed registration form and payment must be received by no later than June 22, 2018, to be considered pre-registered for the Seattle meeting and July 27, 2018, for the Hollywood meeting. The price for registration for pre-registered guests is $150 per guest. Registration for children ages 11 and under is complimentary. Registrations received after the registration deadlines listed above will be charged an on-site registration fee of $200. Additional fees apply for tours.
The registration fee covers all workshop materials, a welcome reception, three lunches and one evening meal. Those wishing to attend only the workshops do not need to register or pay the $150 fee.
You may cancel your meeting registration 10 days prior to the first day of the meetings without penalty. Call the Transportation Division at 216-228-9400 or email apatchin@smart-union.org immediately regarding changes or cancellations to your registration.
Those planning on attending a regional meeting may register online or by filling out and printing the mail-in form and sending it and your payment in to SMART TD headquarters at SMART TD Regional Meeting, 24950 Country Club Blvd., Ste. 340, North Olmsted, OH 44070. Checks should be made payable to SMART Transportation Division. Please do not send cash.

oil-train-railSEATTLE – City Councilmember Mike O’Brien and all eight of his council colleagues signed a letter calling for the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to issue an emergency order prohibiting the shipment of Bakken crude oil in legacy DOT-111 tank train cars. Bakken is highly flammable and easily ignited at normal temperatures by heat, static discharges, sparks or flames, and vapors which may form explosive mixtures with air and spread along confined areas such as sewers. The Seattle City Council is the first in the country to support the petition, filed by Earthjustice on behalf of the Sierra Club and ForestEthics.

The corresponding letter highlights the O’Brien-sponsored oil train Resolution 31504, which was signed by Mayor Ed Murray and adopted by Council in February. O’Brien’s resolution urged Secretary Anthony Foxx to aggressively phase out older model tank cars used to move flammable liquids that are not retrofitted to meet new federal requirements. Following the explosion of DOT-111 train cars in Quebec, which killed 47 men, women and children, Canada immediately took action to begin phasing-out of the DOT-111 cars.

“Dozens of people have died in crude-by-rail accidents when DOT-111 tank cars were punctured and spilled flammable crude,” said O’Brien. “The catastrophic explosions can be triggered by a single spark and yet they travel on tracks underneath downtown and flanking both Safeco Field and CenturyLink Field. Seattle cannot afford to sit idly by with public safety in our city at risk.”

Earlier today the U.S. Department of Transportation proposed new rules that would phase out the use of the DOT-111 cars in two years. City Council’s letter in support of the EarthJustice petition seeks to protect the public from oil spills and explosions now. According to the letter: “Banning the shipment of highly flammable crude oil in legacy DOT-111 tank cars is necessary to abate the unsafe conditions posing an imminent hazard to human life, communities, and the environment.”

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation, areas up to one-half mile or more from an accident site are considered vulnerable. An incident requiring warning, evacuation or rescue could easily affect the more than 600,000 people living and working in densely populated sections of Seattle.

BNSF Railway reports moving 8-13 oil trains per week through Seattle, all containing 1,000,000 or more gallons of Bakken crude. Many of the City of Seattle’s public safety concerns were highlighted in the April 2014 testimony of Seattle’s Director of Office of Emergency Management before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development and Related Agencies in the Committee on Appropriations.

oil-train-railA Burlington Northern Santa Fe train carrying crude oil derailed as it left a railyard in north Seattle on Thursday, but there were no reports of a spill or injuries, BNSF said in a statement.

Four railcars came off the tracks at around 2 a.m. PDT (0900 GMT), three of which were carrying crude oil, said BNSF, which is owned by Berkshire Hathaway. The train originated in North Dakota and was bound for Tesoro Corp’s 120,000 barrel-per-day Anacortes oil refinery, 80 miles (129 km) north of the city, Tesoro confirmed.

Read the complete story at Reuters.