IAM and AW District Lodge 190

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Lockout of Six Flags Ride Mechanics
Threatens Patrons

Less than 24 hours after ride mechanics represented by the IAM were locked out at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, CA, a popular ride in the park broke down putting patrons at risk.

Negotiations between park management and the ride mechanics ended in part because park officials wouldn't agree to mandatory safety training that ride mechanics have been insisting on for years. After locking out the ride machinists at 3:45 p.m. on Thursday, May 2, the ROAR, a wooden coaster that packs a G-Force of 3.5, broke down the very next day, prompting emergency personnel to rescue patrons from the ride.
Tom Brandon, lead negotiator for the IAM, had warned Six Flags officials of the dangers of locking out ride mechanics just as the busy and profitable family vacation season begins.

"It was less than a year ago when the Superman ride failed, leaving patrons stranded atop the roller coaster only 30 days after its opening," said Brandon, referring to an incident that stranded people 150 feet in the air on the park's Superman Ultimate Flight in July 2012. "When it comes to safety, our members want a work environment that is safe for them and the patrons who spend their hard-earned dollars to come here and be entertained."

The IAM has filed multiple Unfair Labor Practice charges alleging that the lockout is unlawful. The ride mechanics are asking people to not patronize Six Flags Discovery Kingdom until the park agrees to better working conditions and fair wages for the mechanics and to mandate safety training to protect mechanics and park-goers.

IAM members help transport
Shuttle to LA science museum

The four Local 1484 members who work for Rigging International-Sarens in Santa Fe Springs, participated in history in October, 2012 when they moved the Space Shuttle Endeavor through the streets of Los Angeles to its final home at the California Science Center.

The Endeavor was commissioned in 1986 following the Challenger explosion. The Shuttle debuted in 1992 and performed 25 missions, logging 123 million miles in space and 4,671 orbits around the earth.

Carrying a 150,000 pound vehicle that's 78 feet wide through the streets of Los Angeles is no easy task. In fact it took three days to make the 14.2 mile journey.

The crew transported the Shuttle on 20-lines of KAMAG self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) controlled by a single operator. During the transport, the configuration of the SPMTs needed to be altered several times to accommodate different road conditions, such as medians, and to be able to navigate the many obstacles along the route. To meet CalTrans requirements, the Shuttle was shifted from SPMTs to a speciallydesigned dolly system to cross the 405 freeway.

"This was not the biggest, heaviest or most complicated transport we have performed, but it certainly was the most historic," says Sarens spokesperson Jim Hennessy. "It's not often that you get to participate in the handling of a national treasure. We're told that well over a million people lined the transport route to see this once-in-a-lifetime event. For those of us from the Sarens team who participated in the project, it was truly the project of a lifetime."

The IAM members are journeyman mechanics who did maintenance and repair along the route, and made the final connections of the Shuttle to the transport trailer. "Our IAM members provided critical technical and other support during this very unique project," Hennessy adds.

The Sarens Group of companies has been providing specialized transport and heavy lift services for more than half a century, working under the motto "Nothing too heavy, nothing too high."

"This is the biggest thing I'll ever do in my career. It was a move of a lifetime," said Shop Steward Steve Leon.

The IAM members are now part of the team preparing the museum site to showcase the Shuttle in launch position.

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Union Refocuses on Safety

There's no question that when a member is killed on the job, as happened to Mark Arnett at the Port of Oakland in October, the union will mobilize its resources to find out what happened and ensure that it doesn't happen to others.

Over the past few months, less serious accidents have taken place at auto dealerships. These serve as a reminder that danger can lurk in all of our worksites, but with awareness and planning, members can mitigate hazards and prevent accidents. Here are a few examples:

When a mechanic at The Ford Store in San Leandro was using a hydraulic jack to lower an engine, one of the hydraulic hoses failed. The jack came down and pushed the member to the ground, dislocating his shoulder. OSHA is looking into what caused the failure.

Down the road, at San Leandro Nissan, an SUV fell off the rack. The company that services the racks had been out recently, but failed to notice that the bearings were completely gone. Fortunately, in this case, nobody was hurt.

Business Rep Steve Older says that racks, like those at the Nissan shop, have a proscribed 10-year service life, but most are much older than that. "That kind of shop maintenance just isn't being done at all too many of our shops," he adds.

As a result of these accidents, the union is doing all it can to emphasize safety—particularly around shop equipment. "This equipment is supposed to be inspected on a regular basis," says Area Director Don Crosatto, "but we're not sure if that's happening as often or as thoroughly as it needs to."

The union is also looking into establishing safety committees, at both big shops and small. "Some of our work, like at the Port, is dangerous. There, safety committees are critical, so that the workers can raise their concerns and have them addressed," says Crosatto.

"The work isn't supposed to be dangerous at a lot of employers, but that doesn't mean that it isn't," he adds. "We need to train our members to understand and pay attention to potential hazards so that we can prevent accidents from taking place."