January 2022
Council leaders report on the end of 2021 and give outlooks for the coming year

The SSMRC's regional directors have made videos reporting on the end of 2021, highlighting some of the prospects for the coming year, and providing information on other developments in their areas. You can view the videos below.
James Rowland, Western Region director:
Jeff Smith, Central Region director:
Logan Brown, Eastern Region director:
David Bonds, Nuclear representative:
MEMBER SPOTLIGHT
Local 1554’s Jesse Beilig took advantage
of training and education opportunities
to further career
Jesse Beilig, a member of SSMRC Local 1554 since 2015, is a labor coordinator and resource coordinator for Universal Plant Services in its Nashville, Tennessee, office. He credits the training and educational opportunities offered by the UBC and the SSMRC for sparking his interest in labor relations and in taking on more leadership roles in the union. Read more about Jesse here.
MEMBER NEWS
Sisters throughout the South attend first SSMRC Sisters in the Brotherhood Committee meeting
The first SSMRC Sisters in the Brotherhood Committee meeting was a great success. Forty-three sisters from across the South attended the virtual gathering. Shanta Prude, SIB committee coordinator for the United Brotherhood of Carpenters’ Southern District, kicked off the event, and SSMRC Executive Secretary Treasurer Wayne Jennings expressed the council’s support of the new SIB committee and encouraged the committee to create goals, including goals that involve recruiting and retaining more female members.

Read more about the meeting here and fill out our SIB Committee interest form here.
Local 216 members receive service pins
Several members of Local 216 received service pins during the local's Christmas dinner earlier in December.
Pictured, left to right, top to bottom: UBC Southern District Vice President Dennis Donahou presents Corey Jones with his 5-year pin; Donahou presents Aaron Hall with his 10-year pin; Donahou presents Homer Hon with his 10-year pin; Donahou presents Bart Williams with his 20-year pin; Donahou presents Randy Garner with his 20-year pin; Donahou presents David Dillier with his 25-year pin; Donahou presents
Terry Nichols with his 35-year pin; Rick Halford and Donahou present their 20-year pin and 45-year pin, respectively.
From left: Terry Brissett received his 20-year pin, John Bivans received his 10-year pin and Mitch Reid received his 25-year pin on a jobsite in Lawton, Oklahoma, after they were unable to attend the pin ceremony.
Get a free t-shirt when you take the
101 Constitution online course
The SSMRC will send you a free t-shirt after you complete the online course "101 Constitution: U.S. Government and Labor Law," which is hosted in the United Brotherhood of Carpenters Department of Education and Training's Learning Management System.

At the beginning of each month, the council will mail t-shirts to members who completed the course during the prior month. If you have already taken the course, we will send your shirt in early January. Learn more about the course here.
STAFF NEWS
Bartley named millwright instructor
at Baton Rouge training center
Jack Bartley was recently named the millwright instructor at the Central South Carpenters and Millwrights Training Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

"I want to teach the up and coming generation and continue the trade of skilled millwrights. I will do all I can for my local and for the students of Millwright Local 729," he said.

Learn more about Bartley here.
MEMBER RESOURCES
Check out the Members section
of our website
Did you know there is a Members section of the SSMRC website dedicated to helping brothers and sisters and their family members get the resources they need quickly? Just click on the Members tab at the top of the home page to get info on open jobs, your local, training, health and wellness, our union community and history, and more. You also can pay your dues online and download reciprocal forms.
Member Milestones
Congratulations to the following members, who became journeymen in December 2021.
Local 1421:
Victor Luna
Efren Serrano
Andrew Trevino
Dayton Woods
Local 216:
Larry Dodson
Jonathan Whittenburn
Anthony Halford
Jason Lavoie
The SSMRC mourns the loss of the following members, who passed away in December 2021.
Local 1421
Joseph Caruso
Local 2232
Jason Harvey
UBC NEWS
UBC General President shares
New Years message
UBC General President Douglas J. McCarron shared a message to all members to look forward to the coming year, and reminded everyone of the relationship they share with their fellow members.

"We don’t do things because they’re easy, we do them because they’re the right thing to do. Even when they’re hard — especially when they’re hard," he said. "But most important as union carpenters, we do things together. Unity is our greatest strength."

Watch his entire message above.
LABOR & ECONOMIC NEWS
U.S. Supreme Court blocks
OSHA vaccine mandate
On Jan. 13, the Supreme Court of the United States blocked a mandate from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration that would have required all employers with 100 or more employees to require those employees to either be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 or to be tested weekly and wear masks at work. Read more about the decision here.
Meeting workers where they are
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh visited six of the SSMRC's 11 states in 2021 as part of his tour of 60 cities in 30 states during his first year as secretary. Read highlights from his trips and learn how he plans to support the administration’s investment in America’s communities.
Unemployment rate drops below 4%
The unemployment rate dropped from 4.2% to 3.9% in December, according to the latest jobs report from the Bureau of Labor and Statistics, marking the first time that the unemployment rate has dipped below 4% since the beginning of the pandemic. The U.S. economy added 199,000 jobs in December, and added a total of 6.4 million jobs in 2021.
Protecting America's workforce
As OSHA commemorates the first 50 years of transforming the safety and health of workplaces nationwide, the agency released a new video that features major accomplishments and important events over the course of its history. To learn more about milestones in workplace safety, visit OSHA’s 50th anniversary webpage.
DOL: 2021 in review
In 2021, the Department of Labor recovered over $230 million in back wages to help workers, awarded more than $11.6 million in Susan Harwood workplace safety and health training grants and worked to keep more workers safe from heat-related hazards.
Read some of the department's 2021 highlights here.
COVID-19 NEWS
U.S. averaging more than 800,000 COVID-19 cases per day
While the Omicron variant of the virus seems to be milder than other forms of COVID-19, the number of hospitalizations across the United States continues to increase with the rapid spread of the new variant, according to data posted by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Texas and Florida are both seeing more than 10,000 per day hospitalized with COVID-19, with the rest of the South also seeing many more people in the hospital with the virus.

The number of deaths from COVID-19 has also begun to increase with the rise in hospitalizations, with the U.S. averaging more than 1,800 deaths per day — an uptick of more than 30% since December.
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