Attention: Bridge Tenders - Call for Photos, Volunteers

Dear Bridge Tender,

We could use a hand and invite you to volunteer.

PHOTOS PLEASE: We have enough text to gag a maggot and need some visual interest to keep the attention of the reader. We'd like to post a photo with each page and ask you to send us yours. It can be anything of interest, your bridge, your bridge house, your dog, anything that will capture the imagination and especially if it's related to safety. We'll add all the photos, to all the posts, all at once and when we have enough interesting shots. Video? Sure!



RESEARCH 1: We need someone to become an expert in:

McNamara-O'Hara Service Contract Act (SCA)
(41 USC §351 et seq.; 29 CFR Parts 4, 6, and 8)

The SCA requires contractors and subcontractors performing services on prime contracts in excess of $2,500 to pay service employees in various classes no less than the wage rates and fringe benefits found prevailing in the locality, or the rates (including prospective increases) contained in a predecessor contractor's collective bargaining agreement as provided in wage determinations issued by the Department of Labor. These determinations are incorporated into the contract.
For contracts equal to or less than $2,500, contractors are required to pay the federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour effective July 24, 2009. Contractors must also, under the provisions of the Contract Work Hours and Safety Standards Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act, pay employees at least one and one-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek.




RESEARCH 2: We need someone to become our expert in DOL compliance:

http://www.dol.gov/compliance/topics/unions.htm

The Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act of 1959 (LMRDA) was enacted to ensure basic standards of democracy and fiscal responsibility in private sector labor organizations. Unions representing U.S. Postal Service employees are also subject to the LMRDA. Federal employee unions are subject to similar standards under the Civil Service Reform Act of 1978 (CSRA) and the Foreign Service Act of 1980 (FSA). The U.S. Department of Labor's Office of Labor-Management Standards (OLMS) administers and enforces many provisions of the LMRDA. In addition to provisions regarding union elections and ensuring fiscal responsibility, Section 104 of the LMRDA establishes the right to receive or examine collective bargaining agreements and applies not only to union members but also to all nonunion employees whose rights are directly affected by a collective bargaining agreement. Other parts of LMRDA set recordkeeping and reporting requirements.



RESEARCH 3: We need someone to become our expert in the NLRA & the NLRB

http://www.nlrb.gov/rights-we-protect/employee-rights

Employees covered by the National Labor Relations Act are afforded certain rights to join together to improve their wages and working conditions, with or without a union. Employees have the right to attempt to form a union where none currently exists, or to decertify a union that has lost the support of employees. Examples of employee rights include:

• Forming, or attempting to form, a union in your workplace;
• Joining a union whether the union is recognized by your employer or not;
• Assisting a union in organizing your fellow employees;
• Refusing to do any or all of these things.
• To be fairly represented by a union

RECORD KEEPING: We need someone to keep our files and records required by the DOL. Bookkeeping experience would be a plus.


INTERNET GURU: We need someone to create and monitor a password protected PRIVATE FORUM for bridge tenders only to allow us to confidentially share information among ourselves.


EVANGELIST: We need a Johnny (and Juanita) Appleseeds in all ISS districts to research, call, distribute literature and inform other Florida bridge tenders employed of our actions, get feedback and establish communication and cooperation with them.

Thanks for your help,
Jake