Esther Freeman has always had a penchant for the mechanical. She enjoyed working on cars growing up. But her welding career started with art.

“I originally got into welding through sculpture,” Freeman said. “I loved foundry [a process in which castings are produced by pouring liquid metal into a mold]. So I did a lot of casting and worked with metal, concrete, and wood.”

Freeman studied sculpture at an arts college, then went into the trades for financial stability. She expanded her welding skills at a technical college before working in fabrication and heavy industrial settings. Freeman was a welding instructor at a technical college in Tennessee when Steve Williams, a business agent for Millwright Local 1554, paid a visit in 2017, just as the welding school was shutting down. He suggested Freeman become a millwright.

“I already wanted to join the union,” Freeman said. “And the more I learned about the millwrights, the more I thought it would be a good fit.”

So she went for an interview at Local 1554. In December of 2020, Freeman became a journeyman millwright. She’s also a part-time welding instructor at the millwright and carpenter training center in Nashville, where she lives.

Learn more about Freeman and her journey by reading the Q&A here.

This article about Local 1192 member Joey Hildreth ran as the main feature on the front page of the Florence Times Daily. We’re so proud of Joey and her career! Click here to read the full article.

Thank you to the SSMRC members who have helped build Units 3 and 4 at Georgia Power's Plant Vogtle in Waynesboro, Georgia. As the project nears completion, Bechtel Corporation has released the following video outlining progress made in 2020.

Congratulations and thank you to the SSMRC members who helped the Limetree Bay refinery in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, resume operations. Limetree Bay Ventures announced Feb. 1 that the facility has begun production and commercial sales of refined products. The plant had been idled since 2012. Over the past two and a half years, hundreds of union millwrights have worked on the project. Read more here.

SSMRC industry partner Southern Company has been named to Fortune magazine’s list of the “World’s Most Admired Companies.” The 2021 list ranks Southern Company among the top four electric and gas utilities worldwide, up two spots from last year.

Southern Company produces and sells electricity across the Southeast through subsidiaries Alabama Power, Georgia Power, and Mississippi Power, while also distributing natural gas through other units.

Fortune’s 2021 World’s Most Admired Companies is a ranking of the world’s most respected and reputable companies, based on a survey of almost 3,800 executives, directors, and analysts.

It is Southern Company’s 10th year being named to the list.

“At Southern Company, we operate every day knowing how we do our jobs – the behaviors we exhibit with customers and each other – is just as important as what we do,” said Southern Company chairman, president & CEO Tom Fanning. “Our uncompromising values – safety first, unquestionable trust, superior performance and total commitment – ensure we put the needs of those we serve at the center of everything we do and govern our business for the benefit of all.”

Learn more about Fortune’s 2021 World’s Most Admired Companies List.

Siemens Energy recently released the following video, which recognizes the importance of union millwrights to the success of its customers in the electric-power-generation industry.

OSHA has issued stronger worker-protection guidelines to help employers and employees reduce the spread of COVID-19. Read the guidance here - https://www.osha.gov/coronavirus/safework - and check out the "What Workers Need to Know" section. If you have safety concerns, including those related to COVID-19, on any jobsite, reach out to the job steward or business agent.

Workers in Bessemer, Alabama, could form the first union at an Amazon warehouse in the United States. The location for this potential "first" has been called surprising due to anti-union sentiment in the region.

Employees at the BHM1 warehouse near Birmingham are seeking to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Ahead of a Feb. 8 mail-out of election ballots to approximately 5,800 workers, Amazon launched an aggressive anti-union drive.

Learn more about the effort to unionize here and about the anti-union drive here.

COVID-19 cases in the United States have dropped nearly 30 percent in the past two weeks, but daily case rates are still more than three times higher than they were during the pandemic's first peak in April and twice as high as they were during the summertime peak in the United States.

Public health officials say more contagious variants of the virus, which do not appear to be widespread in the United States yet, and relaxed precautions could lead to a resurgence of the virus.

All 11 states in the SSMRC district are still at the highest COVID-19 risk level.

Dr. Rochelle Walensky, director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has warned that cases remain “extraordinarily high” and people should not let down their guard, especially given that variants of the virus continue to circulate. She also urged Americans to get the vaccine when it is their turn.

While the COVID-19 vaccination program is a federal initiative, each state determines who is eligible to receive the vaccine and when. Criteria include age, health conditions, and work environment. To check whether you or your family members are eligible, click the appropriate state link below.

Read myths, facts, and answers to frequently asked questions about the vaccine here.