Q4 2022
Through the Industry Partner E-News, we strive to keep our current and prospective industry partners up to date on developments in our organization and in the labor industry in general, and on ways we can work together to meet mutual goals.
PROJECT SUCCESS STORY
Jordim International utilizing SSMRC millwrights to install cutting-edge baggage-handling system at Houston airport
SSMRC millwrights have been instrumental in a multi-year project to install a high-tech baggage-handling system at George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston that is the first of its kind in the Unites States. The technology United Airlines is having installed in Terminals C and E improves bag-scan accuracy by 25%, can reroute bags without manual intervention, and significantly increases system speed, making luggage retrieval faster for travelers.

Contractor Jordim International Inc. is regularly employing 55 millwrights who are installing more than six miles of Siemens conveyor equipment as part of the new baggage-handling system. Read more.
NETWORKING & RECRUITING
We hope to see you at upcoming industry events!
SSMRC staff will be attending the following events and look forward to talking with you about upcoming opportunities and ways we can work together on projects and on recruitment/retention. If there is an event you would like an SSMRC rep to attend with you, please reach out to the regional director for your area.

  • Jan. 23-25 - UBC Millwright/Pile Driver Industry Conference at the Carpenters' International Training Center in Las Vegas. Registration is closed for this event, and we are excited that we'll see many of you there.
  • Jan. 30-Feb. 1 - The SCOAR (Southeastern Construction Owners & Associates Roundtable) Winter Meeting will be held at the Hutchinson Shores Resort & Spa in Jensen Beach, Florida. Learn more and register.
AREA REPORTS
Western Region: We’re ready to help our partners take advantage of historic construction
The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the CHIPS and Science Act have started a construction frenzy across the region. We are targeting significant opportunities in all four states of the region, from new construction on manufacturing facilities to major expansions that will be providing millwright work for several years. Reach out to me or our business agents to find out about bid opportunities. Read more.
Central Region: Much work is headed our way thanks to Ford Blue Oval project and BIL funding
Work opportunities across the region have been excellent, contributing to member and contractor prosperity. 2023 is looking to be just as busy as 2022 with the new Ford Blue Oval project and other large projects heading our way. In addition, $8.6 billion in funding from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has already been announced for Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. Agents have been working hard to grow local memberships by attending job fairs hosted by high schools, colleges, trade schools, and community organizations. Read more.
Eastern Region: Communication will be key to success in 2023
We are expecting 2023 to be a very busy year. Some major projects are going to launch in the first quarter of 2023 that will require significant manpower. This will be in addition to one of the busiest spring nuclear-outage seasons we have ever seen. We are anticipating major manpower call-outs, and we need you, our industry partners, to communicate with us well in advance of your projects. Read more.
Nuclear Office: Excellent 2022 outage seasons lead into strong start for 2023
2022 was a stellar year for the SSMRC and our partnering contractors. We handled a total of 19 nuclear outages. While dealing with high manpower demands, the SSMRC stepped up to the plate and hit a home run, utilizing 895 millwrights to fill 1,110 requested millwright positions. Thirteen outage are scheduled in our 11-state jurisdiction for the spring of 2023. This is a strong start and a good indicator of work opportunities in the nuclear field for the upcoming year. Read more.
TRAINING NEWS
Nashville training center 80% complete
The 25,000-square-foot millwright and carpenter training center under construction in La Vergne, Tennessee, near Nashville is scheduled to be complete on Jan. 20, with a grand opening slated for March.

“Members and contractors will both benefit from members being trained in a more timely fashion due to the extra space and newer training equipment,” said Rickey Moore, director of the Mid-South Carpenters Regional Council Training Trust Fund. Read more.
Military Veterans Program garners grants, delivers high-quality apprentices
Apparel-maker Carhartt, Inc. awarded a $25,000 grant in November to support the United Brotherhood of Carpenters’ Military Veterans Program, which helps service members transition from the military to civilian careers as millwrights and carpenters. For the third year in a row, the program will receive a U.S. Labor Department grant that provides program graduates at Fort Hood in Texas with $1,500 each to purchase tools.

MVP participants attend a free, eight-week training program that gives them the basic skill set of a first-year apprentice and includes hands-on projects. The veterans then join a UBC local union and begin working. In 2022, 56 transitioning service members have graduated from the millwright program or are in class at Fort Hood in Texas and 17 have graduated from the millwright program or are in class at the Clarksville, Tennessee, center near Fort Campbell. Learn more here.
GOVERNMENT & ECONOMIC NEWS
Congress boosts NLRB funding, easing crisis-level shortfall; Bill also expands worker protections
Congress has approved the first funding increase for the National Labor Relations Board since 2014, averting a budget crisis but falling short of what’s needed given a dramatic rise in unionization and unfair-labor-practice charges. While the 9% NLRB funding boost was less than the 16% increase the Biden administration requested, the president signed the bill Dec. 29.

A fully funded NLRB, which is supposed to enforce worker protections and labor laws, is vital for maintaining a level playing field for union contractors and for preserving fair industry wages and benefits for millwrights and other tradespeople. Read more about the funding increase and expanded worker protections in the same bill here.

Thank you to our industry partners who wrote letters to their representatives as part of our campaign to encourage better funding of the NLRB.
The Consumer Price Index, a key indicator of inflation, increased 0.1% during November. Prices have risen 7.1% over the past 12 months. Increases in the costs of shelter and food were partly offset by a 1.6 decrease in the energy index, which includes the gasoline index, the natural gas index, and the electricity index. Read the full report.
SAFETY & REGULATORY NEWS
See how your firm's injury rates compare to peers' and help us improve millwright training
The UBC Millwright Safety tool produces reports that allow companies to compare their workplace injury rates to those of their peers. 

You can sign up for a UBC Millwright Safety account and input your safety data quarterly - a process that takes most contractors about five minutes. Then you'll see info-graphics showing your company's injury types, incidence rate, time of day injuries occur, rates of first aid being rendered and employees not being fit for duty, incidents by region, and work hours compared to an average of stats for all other UBC contractors using the system. We share the overall numbers with our training departments so that if they see a trend, they can modify training to address it.
Time to submit injury/illness data to OSHA
Certain employers must submit required 2022 injury and illness data here between Jan. 2 and March 2, 2023.

OSHA recently updated its Injury Tracking Application through which employers are required to report injuries and illnesses for each calendar year. All current and new account holders must connect their ITA account to a Login.gov account with the same email address in order to submit their 2022 data. Watch a video explaining how to create or log into an account and find answers to other FAQs here.