For students and potential students, this means Job Corps is now accepting applications for those interested in enrolling. If you were previously enrolled in Job Corps and left to receive medical treatment or were on standby to enter an Advanced Training program, you will receive first priority upon return. If you applied for Job Corps before the suspension, your application is still on file. All Applications are being reviewed once more and those will be contacted soon. Those applications will be processed first.

The Transportation Communications Union/IAM has contracted with the United States Department of Labor's Job Corps to provide an Advanced Transportation program for our nation's youth. Beginning with just two sites in 1971, TCU/IAM's Training Services Department is now contracted to train 450 students nationwide at nine facilities.

 To learn more about enrolling in Job Corps, visit the TCU/IAM Job Corps website at http://tcu.jobcorps.gov/

Since the payment of railroad retirement spouse or widow(er)s' annuities can be affected by entitlement to certain other government benefits, such dual entitlement, if not reported to the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB), can result in benefit overpayments which have to be repaid, sometimes with interest and penalties. The railroad Retirement Board (RRB) has released a questions and answers describing how payments are adjusted by the RRB for spouse and widow(er) annuitants entitled to public service pensions.

Click here to read the Q&A released from the RRB.

Three members of IAM Local 264 in Boston, MA were honored recently for their bravery and quick thinking in the immediate aftermath of the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Within seconds of the explosions, IAM members John Foley, Dave Litif and Mike Rowan, who were working as finish line volunteers, moved to tear down barricades around the blast site and immediately began treating the wounded.

"The city was under siege and our union members were right there," said Local 264 President Jim Mastandrea. "They didn't hesitate to get right in there. They knew that people needed help and they responded. I am so proud of these members. They were fearless in their reaction to the situation."

The three Machinists were recognized with special medals made by fellow Local 264 member Chris Fernald to commemorate their actions.

"District 15 is honored to claim these guys as members of the Machinists Union," said District 15 DBR Jim Conigliaro. "Their actions truly epitomize the meaning of self-sacrificing for others."

House Speaker John Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor joined Rep. Martha Roby (R-AL), sponsor of the deceptively titled "Working Families Flexibility Act" (H.R. 1406), as they paraded the bill around Capitol Hill Tuesday. The bill would upend overtime pay and end the 40-hour workweek, as we know it.

For example, under current law, hourly employees are paid time-and-a-half for hours worked over 40 hours per week. If passed, this bill would give employers the power to take those wages and put them in a pot for future time off. This means employees wouldn't get paid for all their work in a given pay period, which is bad news for families who are already living pay check to pay check.

The GOP is trying to sell the bill as an innovative way to help American workers better balance time between family and work, but in a letter to Congress, IAM President Tom Buffenbarger makes it clear that this proposal is no friend of the middle class.

"The Federal Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 established the 40-hour workweek, however, its only enforcement mechanism is the requirement that employers pay a cash premium for overtime work," said Buffenbarger. "Comp-time' legislation would remove this obligation from employers who offer compensatory time off instead. This legislation would make it cheaper for employers to demand mandatory overtime, undermining the FLSA's only incentive against excessive hours."

The White House released a statement Monday threatening to veto the bill, saying the legislation, "undermines the existing right to hard-earned overtime pay, on which many working families rely to make ends meet, while misrepresenting itself as a workplace flexibility measure that gives power to employees over their own schedules."

The bill is also opposed by many organizations that fight for workers' rights, including AFL-CIO, the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the National Employment Law Project and the National Partnership for Women and Families.

Click here to read the statement of policy from the White House.

Click here to read the letter from IAM President Tom Buffenbarger.

• Improve Education, and cut the number of high school dropouts - 1.2 million students, every year - in half.
• Financial Stability, and get 1.9 million working families - half the number of lower-income families who are financially unstable - on the road to economic independence.
• Promote Healthy Lives, and increase by one-third the number of youth and adults who are healthy and avoid risky behaviors.

The United Way will continue to provide vital services. Those in need require the kind of help and change that only the United Way can provide. These improvements are just a few of the many services and solutions that the United Way provides.

TCU/IAM urges everyone to continue our proud union tradition to improve our communities and quality of life for everyone by donating time, money, or resources to the United Way. The way to get started can be found on their website www.liveunited.org.

Each year more than 56,000 workers die from job-related injuries and illnesses and another six million are injured. The unions of the AFL-CIO remember these workers every year on April 28, Workers' Memorial Day.

This year, on April 28 at 6 p.m., IAM will remember those members who died on the job during a ceremony at William W. Winpisinger Education and Technology Center in Hollywood, MD. The IAM Workers' Memorial Lighthouse was dedicated during the 2001 annual Safety and Health Conference and has a special place on the grounds of the Winpisinger Center's Memorial Park. Names of fallen workers are immortalized on bricks around its base inscribed with their name and date of death.

The first Workers' Memorial Day was observed in 1989. April 28 was chosen because it is the anniversary of the creation of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the day of a similar remembrance in Canada.
Every year, hundreds of communities and worksites recognize workers who have been killed or injured on the job. Trade unionists around the world now mark April 28 as an International Day of Mourning.

Click here for more information about the commemoration plans.

Click here to read the release from the US Department of Labor on their Workers Memorial Day plans.

Joining the Alliance entitles members to quarterly issues of the Union Sportsmen's Journal (by mail or online), a one-year MyTopo.com online mapping subscription, an e-newsletter with tips and special offers, discounts on outdoor gear and services and more.

Click here to sign up today.

The April Edition of the Union Sportsmen's Journal is now available in print and online. This issue shows union members how they can keep costs down during the turkey hunting season, what the best tricks are for catching catfish in the spring, and more news concerning hunting and gaming.

The April edition includes IAM Local 66 member Tim Lawrence, who started his own handcrafted wooden lures company, and IAM Local 751 member Mitchell Christian, who caught an albacore tuna on his first tuna fishing trip.

Be sure to stay up-to-date with the Union Sportsmen's Alliance by liking their Facebook page.

Click here to read the questions and answers release that describes these disability benefits, their requirements, and how to apply for them.

•    Esther Peterson - Champion for Women's Work
•    What's New at the DOL
•    Equal Pay - Higher Wages Good for the Bottom Line
•    New Veterans Initiatives
•    National News
•    What's Happening on the Hill
•    And other happenings at the DOL

Click here to read the April 2013 Newsletter.

This bill has passed the House however the White House has issued a statement that the President would veto the bill if presented to him.

TCU/IAM is working to ensure the NLRB is still able to enforce the rights of workers to form unions and bargain collectively, but also protect business and the public by providing orderly procedures for preventing disruptions in commerce by either side to a labor dispute.

"H.R. 1120 would shut down the NLRB indefinitely, and deprive both labor and management of the ability to have their rights adjudicated when a violation of the NLRA is alleged," said TCU/IAM National  Legislative Director and National Vice President Ron Kloos.

To stabilize the NLRB, President Obama on Tuesday submitted three nominees - Mark Gaston Pearce, Harry I. Johnson III and Philip A. Miscimarra - for the Senate to confirm.

"By enforcing workplace protections, upholding the rights of workers and providing a stable workplace environment for businesses, the NLRB plays a vital role in our efforts to grow the economy and strengthen the middle class," Obama said in a statement. "I urge the Senate to confirm them swiftly so that this bipartisan board can continue its important work on behalf of the American people."

Click here to read the letter from IAM International President Tom Buffenbarger to Congress asking them to vote no.

Click here to read the policy statement from the White House.

Click here to read the statement from the AFL-CIO.

"I'm very proud of what we have accomplished as a team, walking the halls of Congress together, trying to protect the jobs, health care and retirement security for the working families of our great Union.  I look forward to continuing to work side-by-side with them in their new capacities as co-directors, as we face the challenges of tomorrow."
 
National President Bob Scardelletti affirmed, "These are two exceptionally talented men and their appointments are very important to our union and enhance and improve our legislative power, another benefit of our merger with the IAM."

Click here to view the announcement from the IAM.