IAM and AW District Lodge 190

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As companies increase their "green" credentials, so must the techs

Waste Management goes green, moves away from diesel
Working in the garbage industry may still be a dirty job, but now it's a green job, too. And 34 members of Local 1546 are gaining new skills, maintaining the facilities at the Davis Street Transfer Station in San Leandro, and servicing the alternative fuel vehicles that the company is now running.

After October 12, the Organics Processing and
Transfer Center will never again be as pristine.

Inaugurating green Organics Processing building

(WMAC) unveiled its $11 million, state-of-the-art LEEDTM Gold
Organics Processing and Transfer Facility is now called the Davis
Street Resource Recovery Complex. (LEED is a nationally-recognized design designation certifying that building construction met a range of environmental standards.) This, the first industrial building designed to LEED's Gold standard in San Leandro, will go into operation on October 11.

To read more, download the current issue of the Sparkplug.

Brown goes green

Postal Service
At right: Back in 1936, UPS had a fleet of
electric trucks, used in New York City.

Pretty soon, when you see a UPS truck on the street, the likelihood is that it will be an alternative fuel vehicle. And depending on where you are, it may be all-electric.

In 2010, UPS tested an all-electric package car in the North Cal District and the results were so good that the company placed an order for 100 all-electric package cars for California from a company in Stockton (EVI). The cars, which have a range of 70-100 miles per day, depending on load, will be in Sacramento, Ceres, Fresno, Bakersfield and San Bernardino.

IAM mechanics, who currently service the UPS fleet, will be trained by factory representatives, once the vehicles are put into service.

The story continues in the recent issue of the Sparkplug.

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Challenge to all District Lodge 190 members

I am challenging every member starting with our Local Lodge Officers, Executive Board Members and Shop Stewards to become a sponsoring member of the Machinists Non-Partisan Political League (MNPL). A $25.00 donation will qualify you for a sponsoring membership for the year 2011.

These voluntary donations are critical for our organization to elect and support candidates for public office who, no matter what their party affiliation, will support the legislative goals of working men and women and defend our right to collectively bargain good union contracts.

The battle taking place in Wisconsin is an example of what happens to workers when politicians who don't support working men and women are elected. These politicians are taking away the basic rights of public workers to negotiate their wages, hours and working conditions. The right to collectively bargain is being all but wiped out. There are extreme right wing movements spurred by the Wisconsin events that are popping up in every state of the country and we have to fight these radical efforts with everything we have. By legislating out the right to collectively bargain, these extremists are trying to eliminate the right for workers to join together and form a union for their own protection.

If collective bargaining becomes illegal, then so do our unions and the basic right for workers to fight for justice on the job.

Join with us and help us fight off this ruthless attempt by joining the MNPL as a sponsoring member. Call your Local Lodge office or your Business Representative for sign-up forms. You will automatically be entered into a drawing for several prizes. The drawing will be held at the July 26 District Lodge 190 meeting. You need not be present to win.

James Beno
Directing Business Representative